Court seeks govt response on Manu plea

NEWDELHI:THE Delhi High Court on Friday sought the response of the Delhi government on a plea by Manu Sharma, convict in the Jessica Lal murder case, who contended that the Sentence Review Board (SRB) rejected his release thrice even though he fulfilled all parameters.

A bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued notice to the government on the plea filed through lawyer and social activist Amit Sahni, contending that on September 19, the SRB rejected Sharma’s case even when his conduct had been termed as “good” by the jail authorities.

Siddharth Vashishta, better known as Manu Sharma, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court in December 2006 for killing Jessica Lal in 1999 for refusing to serve him a drink. The Supreme Court, had in 2010, upheld the conviction and dismissed Sharma’s appeal.

In December last year, former youth Congress leader Sushil Sharma, convict in the Tandoor case, had also approached the Delhi High Court seeking his release on the same ground. The court had then ordered the forthwith release of Sharma then.

In his plea, Manu Sharma has said that he has undergone an incarceration of almost 23 years (with remission) and 17 years (without remission).

It said he is aggrieved by the order upholding the Sentence

Review Board recommendation, rejecting his case for release, in spite of fulfilling all the required parameters.

“This is not for the first time that the SRB has chosen to reject the petitioner’s case for release. Earlier too, on three occasions, the case of the petitioner has been rejected by SRB in an unfair manner for extraneous reasons, despite fulfilling all required parameters and prescribed conditions,” the plea read

The matter would be now heard on December 16.