93YROLD MOVES SC AGAINST LIFE TERM IN 1978 MURDER CASE

NEW DELHI: A 93-year-old man moved the Supreme Court on Friday against an Allahabad high court order, in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 40-year-old murder case. Petitioner Rohtas’ counsel mentioned the matter for an urgent listing before a vacation bench of Justices UU Lalit and Deepak Gupta, arguing that his client who is currently behind bars was suffering from ailments due to which he was unable to move his right portion of the body.

NEW DELHI: A 93-year-old man moved the Supreme Court on Friday against an Allahabad high court order, in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 40-year-old murder case.

Petitioner Rohtas’ counsel mentioned the matter for an urgent listing before a vacation bench of Justices UU Lalit and Deepak Gupta, arguing that his client who is currently behind bars was suffering from ailments due to which he was unable to move his right portion of the body.

According to the plea, there is a blockage in the petitioner’s brain due to which he could go into coma or suffer paralysis.

The bench told Rohtas’ lawyer to mention the appeal again on June 18 when a new set of judges would take over as the vacation bench.

The case dates back to September 29, 1978 when a scuffle broke out between two sides over harvesting crop on a piece of land in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district.

According to the police report in the case, few people suffered injuries in the brawl and one person who was assaulted by Rohtas and his associates later died.

A trial court had sentenced Rohtas and two others to life imprisonment in 1983.

Rohtas later moved the high court against his conviction, stating that the charges leveled against him were false and it was in fact his associates who had informed the police about the incident.

He pleaded right to self defence before the court while highlighting the injuries suffered by him and his associates in the scuffle.

The high court, however, dismissed his petition on February 12.

In his appeal before apex court, Rohtas claimed the HC failed to consider several facts, including the injuries sustained by him during the scuffle.