New Delhi, Mar 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the Principal Secretary, Home, of the Delhi government for not deciding the remission of a convict in connection with the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.
Issuing notice, a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the senior official of the national capital government to explain why action should not be taken against him under the Contempt of Courts Act and ordered him to remain present before it on March 28, the next date of listing, through video conferencing.
The Justice Oka-led Bench recorded that the Delhi government had previously given an assurance to decide within two weeks the remission plea of Sukhdev Pehalwan, who is serving a 20-year jail term in the sensational case.
“We believe that unless a contempt notice is issued, our orders are not complied with,” remarked the apex court after it was apprised that the Sentence Review Board (SRB) is yet to consider the petitioner’s plea for remission.
In the sensational case, Sukhdev Pehalwan was handed a 20-year jail term. Co-convicts Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav, among others, were convicted and sentenced to 25 years of actual imprisonment without consideration of remission for kidnapping Katara from a marriage party in February 2002 and then killing him for his alleged affair with Vikas’ sister Bharti Yadav.
Vikas Yadav is the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav.
Katara was murdered as Vishal and Vikas Yadav did not approve of his affair with Bharti because they belonged to different castes, the lower court had observed in its verdict.
Vikas Yadav has also petitioned the Supreme Court against the denial of remission of his sentence. The plea sought directions that the benefit of remission is a part of the right to personal liberty as protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. It contended that no criminal court can pass a sentence fixing the minimum sentence of 25 years in a case of life imprisonment to get eligible for a grant of remission.
On the other hand, the complainant Nilam Katara, the mother of the deceased, prayed that the convict’s writ petition ought to be dismissed.
–IANS
pds/vd
