In a unique case of its kind, the Supreme Court has gone beyond its previous decision and the President’s order and released a convict. The Supreme Court ordered the release of the convict in the 30-year-old triple murder case after it came to light that the convict was only 14 years old at the time of the crime.
On 15 November 1994, a former army officer and two members of his family were murdered in Dehradun. In this case, his servant Om Prakash was proved guilty in every court. Considering the heinousness of the incident, every court gave him death sentence. Even the Supreme Court had rejected his review and curative petition. Finally he got relief in 2012. That too, the President, while giving orders on his mercy petition, changed the sentence to 60 years of imprisonment.
What is the matter?
Om Prakash had pleaded in every court that he was a minor at the time of the incident. But his having a bank account at the time of the incident became evidence against him. It was assumed that he was an adult when his bank account was opened. After being in jail for more than 25 years, he will now be able to come out of jail with the help of Project 39 A of National Law University of Delhi. Members of Project 39 A, which provides legal assistance to death row convicts, retrieved the school records of Om Prakash from Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. This proved that he was only 14 years old at the time of the crime.
‘Did not get legal help due to being less educated’
In the decision given after this information came to light, Supreme Court Justices MM Sundaresh and Arvind Kumar agreed. That something very wrong happened with Om Prakash. Under the Juvenile Justice Act, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in a reform home. After this he could join the society and lead a normal life. But his being less educated and not getting proper legal help became a hindrance in this. He spent 25 years in jail. In this too, there were 11 years in which he was awaiting death sentence.
Before coming to the Supreme Court, a petition was also filed in the Uttarakhand High Court on behalf of Om Prakash. In that petition, based on the bone test report and other evidence, he had declared himself to be a minor at the time of the incident. But the High Court had said that after the matter is settled at the level of the President, it will not be reopened. The Supreme Court has not agreed with this. The Supreme Court has said that at any stage of the trial, if evidence is found that the accused is a minor, then the court should adopt legal procedure accordingly.
Source link