The Allahabad High Court set aside the order of conviction in a murder case while allowing the appeal filed by an accused who spent 17 years in jail already.
The bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan and Justice Mohd. Azhar Husain Idrisi observed, “……the appellant is in judicial custody for 17 years of actual sentence and 20 years of total sentence with remission, having no criminal history, as per the State police is entitled to premature release but his case was never processed.”
Advocate SK Tripathi appeared for the Appellant.
Brief Facts-
The prosecution case was that a fish seller was shot dead by the accused during a confrontation over payment at the market. Following investigation, the accused was charged with murder under Section 302 IPC. The Trial Court convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The Court noted that the prosecution case had several inconsistencies and therefore the accused is entitled to benefit of doubt. It is apparent that no proper investigation was conducted by the police, the Court added.
“This appeal is being prosecuted by the High Court Legal Services Committee, by appointing a Legal Aid Counsel the appellant has no criminal history and despite this case is being falling under the policy of the Government for premature release, as per the information supplied by the State Counsel, is not being processed by Jail Authorities.”, the Court noted further.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the Appeal and set aside the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence.
Cause Title: Mahfooz v. State of UP (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC:162096-DB)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates S.K. Tripathi and Ajay Shankar