20 years gone, man acquitted in double murder case in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad: Twenty years after being charged with a double murder he didn't commit, Bheema Jatav finally saw justice. But the taste of freedom will elude him still.On April 29, the court of additional sessions judge Shiv Kumar Tiwary acquitted Jatav in connection with the two-decade-old murder case. But Jatav will continue to stay in Dasna jail in connection with another case against him in Hapur.His acquittal in the murder case came through the efforts of a lawyer provided to him under UP govt's Legal Aid Defence Counsel System (LADCS).The case dates back to Oct 11, 2003, when two bodies bearing injury marks were discovered near a forest in Noornagar of Sihani. Following police advertisements, Shashibala Devi from Meerut identified one of the bodies as that of her son Ankit Gupta, and the other of his friend Monu.Acting on a tip off, the city cops arrested Jatav and filed a chargesheet against him on March 20, 2004. He was charged with murder under IPC Section 302, destroying evidence under Section 201, and under Section 25/4 of the Arms Act. Without any means for legal representation, Jatav remained in jail until lawyers discovered his case during an LADCS awareness camp in 2024.Assistant legal defence counsel Vichitra Kumar, who represented Jatav in court, highlighted crucial gaps in the prosecution's case. "The prosecution relied heavily on the accused's extra-judicial confession. We found significant discrepancies between the complainant's statement and her testimony in court," Kumar said.The court also noted inconsistencies in the prosecution's timeline and the alleged recovery of the murder weapon. After hearing both parties, it acquitted Jatav on all charges.Though acquitted, Jatav will remain in custody.In these 20 years, Jatav has been in and out of jail several times. After his arrest on Jan 7, 2004, Jatav remained in jail till May 26 that year, when he secured a bail. During this period, he worked as a labourer and did not jump the bail conditions till 2011, when he stopped reporting to the nearest police station.Jatav was arrested again on May 19, 2011, and continued to remain in custody till Feb 4, 2017. He violated bail conditions once again, and was taken into judicial custody on Aug 22, 2022. Since then, he continues to remain in jail."Bheema Jatav comes from an extremely humble background. His elderly mother, the only one in his family, cannot run for court formalities. While in jail, Jatav was not earning enough to afford a private lawyer. So, he had left all hopes of presenting his case," Kumar said. The LADCS was implemented across district courts in the state in 2023. "Under the Legal Services Authorities Act, free legal aid is everyone's right. LADCS ensures legal representation for those who can't afford it, particularly in criminal cases," Kumar said.The district legal services team in Ghaziabad, led by chief legal defence counsel Kiran Pal Singh, has conducted about 50 jail visits in 2024-25, taking up over 1,000 cases. "We've resolved 260 cases, and 812 are pending trials," Singh said.