SC acquits man after 22 years in jail, raps Delhi high court for nixing delayed appeal

NEW DELHI: This is how justice is denied when courts go by the letter of the law and not by the spirit. A poor murder convict, who was left abandoned by family and was not given proper legal advice, challenged the trial court's order of his conviction and life imprisonment after nine years delay in Orissa HC which refused to decide his plea on merit and dismissed it on ground of delay. The convict had to spend another 10 years in jail before SC came to his rescue.

Terming the HC's order, passed in 2016, "very disturbing", a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan invoked extraordinary power granted to SC to complete justice under Article 142 and directed the convict be released as his conduct in jail has been satisfactory and he had spent 22 years in jail and did not come out of prison even once .

"The HC, while declining to condone the delay, ought to have considered the fact that the petitioner was already undergoing sentence past 12 years. the HC ought to have also considered that it was an appeal through jail. This itself was sufficient for the HC to take a practical view or rather a sympathetic view of the matter and at least ought to have condoned the delay so as to give one opportunity to the petitioner to argue his criminal appeal on merits. As on date, the petitioner has undergone almost 22 years of sentence," the bench said.

Court said the petitioner has not been released even once on parole or furlough and in such circumstances condoning the delay and asking the HC now to hear the criminal appeal on merits will be a futile exercise.

"We are convinced that we should release the petitioner on bail in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case. Thus, in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution as an exceptional case, we order that the petitioner be released on bail on executing a personal bond of Rs.10,000 to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent," the bench said.

The bench directed the district legal services authority, Koraput to help him in preparing an appropriate representation, seeking remission of sentence.