New Delhi: In a big development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that convicts who have completed prison terms should be released immediately. The direction was passed by a bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan while ordering the release of Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehalwan in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.
The bench directed that the copy of the order should be circulated by Registry to Home Secretaries of all states and UTs to ascertain whether any accused or convict has remained in jail beyond the period of sentence, reported PTI
"If so, issue directions for release of such convicts if not wanted in any other cases. A similar copy shall be send to member secretary National Legal Service Authorities for onward transmission to all member Secretaries of state and UTs Legal Service Authorities for communication of District Legal Service Authorities in the states for the implementation of judgement," it added.
The top court also directed that the order should be sent to the Member Secretary of the National Legal Service Authority so that it can be passed on to the District Legal Service Authorities in the States.
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The SC directed that he should be released from jail as he had completed 20 years in jail without remission. "There can't any further incarceration of appellant herein from March 9, 2025, onwards.... In fact on March 10, 2025, the appellant ought to have been released, as he completed his sentence," the bench said.
"What kind of behaviour is this? If this attitude continues, every convict will die in jail...," the bench said as quoted by NDTV. Pehalwan had filed a petition in the top court for his release after he had completed his 20-year jail term in March this year. The Supreme Court had granted him an interim release of three months. On July 29, the apex court ordered Pehalwan's release. However, the Sentence Review Board blocked it.
The top court also pulled up the board for blocking the release of Pehalwan on the basis of his conduct..
In July this year, during a hearing Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the Delhi government, had argued that Pehalwan could not be automatically released after 20 years. Dave had said that a 20-year life term without remission meant the convict was eligible to appeal only after completing 20 years. She argued that a 'life term' means spending the rest of his natural life in jail, reported NDTV.
However, senior advocate Siddharth Mridul, appearing for Pehalwan, appearing for Pehalwan, argued that the prison term had finished March 9 and the convict could not be kept in jail after that.
On October 3, 2016, the Supreme Court gave a 25-year jail term without the benefit of remission to Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav for their role in the sensational kidnapping and killing of Katara.
Pehalwan, a co-convict in the case, was given a 20-year jail term.
Katara was kidnapped from a marriage party on the intervening night of February 16 and 17, 2002 and was killed for his alleged affair with Vikas' sister Bharti Yadav. Bharti is the daughter of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav.
