Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 4: In a rarest of the rare case, a man remained in the jail for four years even after the acquittal by the Court in a murder case and taking serious note of the issue Chief Justice of State High Court, Justice M M Kumar has directed the Registrar Vigilance to hold enquiry.
The man—Hari Bhadur Thappa, who was involved in murder case, was awarded life-imprisonment by the Sessions Judge, Leh in 2005. However, the sentence was challenged before the High Court and on February 27, 2009 the Division Bench acquitted the accused and directed his release from the jail. But the convict was not released from the jail for four years. Thereafter, an appeal was filed before the High Court.
After hearing Advocate Mandeep Reen appearing for the appellants whereas Senior AAG Gagan Basotra for the State, the Division Bench comprising Justice Virender Singh and Justice Bansi Lal Bhat observed, “it is shocking that the appellant continues to languish in Central Jail Kot-Bhalwal even after lapse of four years of setting-aside of his conviction and sentence”, adding “the fault lies somewhere and same is required to be identified and those responsible for such major lapse are required to be held accountable”.
“The gravity of the matter warrants placing the same before the Chief Justice for appropriate orders”, the DB said and directed authorities to release the petitioner forthwith unless wanted in some other case. The DB also directed Registrar Judicial to convey this order to Superintendent Central Jail Kot-Bhalwal with direction to report compliance forthwith and take steps to place the matter before the Chief Justice.
Accordingly, the matter was placed before the Chief Justice, who after going through the file, directed Registrar Vigilance to initiate enquiry and file report.
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