Delhi High Court ordered that the convict, Sushil Kumar Sharma, be released immediately. (Representational)Former youth Congress leader Sushil Kumar Sharma walked out of Tihar jail Friday, hours after the Delhi High Court ordered that he be released immediately.
Sharma was sentenced to death for killing wife Naina Sahni in 1995 and later trying to dispose of her body by burning it in a tandoor. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal also set aside the Sentence Review Board’s (SRB) October 4 decision rejecting Sharma’s representation for premature release and termed their order “cryptic, non-speaking and unreasonable”.
The bench said: “Incarceration of convicted prisoners, such as Sharma, serving life term does not result in suspension of his fundamental right and he is not denuded of the rights enshrined in every person within the meaning of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”
How long can a convict be allowed to stay in jail?
“There is no manner of doubt in our mind that the rejection of premature release by the SRB suffers from arbitrariness and illegality,” the bench said and observed that the convict was behind bars for over 29 years, including remission, till date.
The bench criticised the manner in which the SRB did not take into account the report of the jail authorities and Delhi government’s Social Welfare Department, which recommended his release. “The positive recommendation underlines his readiness to be reintegrated in the society,” the bench said.
The court’s direction came on Sharma’s plea seeking premature release on the ground that guidelines state that life convicts sentenced for a single offence are to be released after completion of 20 years of incarceration, and those who had committed heinous crimes are to be granted relief after 25 years.
Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra had said the LG had accepted SRB recommendations not to release Sharma.
The bench also took into account the age of Sharma’s parents, and said they “need his succour and support at this stage”.
The bench noted that the Supreme Court, while commuting Sharma’s sentence to life term in October 2013, said the murder was an “outcome of an estranged personal relationship” and there were chances of reformation.
