Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: February 04, 2022 at 18:30 IST
The Allahabad High Court on February 4, 2022, set aside an Order that Sentenced a Convict for life time pertaining to a 40-year-old Case in which he was Convicted under charges of Offences described in Sections 302 (Murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of Evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Allahabad High Court Bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Vivek Varma were hearing a Plea of 4 Accused (Petitioners in the present case) in the Murder Case vis-a-vis Radhey Shyam, Raj Kumar, Jagdish and Siyaram. Only Raj Kumar survived during the course of Trial, rest of the three Petitioners are deceased.
The aforementioned 4 Accused were found Guilty under Section 302 (Murder) and Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code, by the VII Additional Sessions Judge in Hardoi. All four were Sentenced for life term by the Sessions Court. The four had approached the High Court challenging the Verdict of the Sessions Court.
The High Court Bench in the present Case stated that “It is quite unnatural that a group of persons armed with the deadly weapon came and challenged a person, then, the person instead of trying to save himself by hook and crook, standing there and waiting for the group persons to come nearer to him and kill him.”
The Bench stated, “It appears that the weapon of assault i.e., Banka and lathies was not recovered by the Investigating Officer nor unknown recovered head was sent for D.N.A. test nor any expert opinion was obtained by the Investigating Officer which raises doubt that head and the headless body belong to the same person even though the head was found in a decomposed position. Thus, it can be safely said here that the Investigation of the case appears to be tainted and not as per Law.”
Hence, the Allahabad High Court set aside the Impugned Order of the Sessions Court while stating that “The Appellant no.2-Raj Kumar is Acquitted from the charges levelled against him. The Appellant is in Jail. He shall be set at liberty forthwith if no longer required in any other Criminal Case.”
