Reiterating that a person cannot be incarcerated for an indefinite period of time pending hearing in appeal, the Supreme Court has suspended sentence and granted bail to a murder accused who has been in jail for more than 11 years.
A bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Pankaj Mithal, on September 25, directed release of Dinesh alias Paul Daniel Khajekar who was arrested in 2011 in Pune in a murder case.
The bench said that Khakekar’s appeal has been pending before the Bombay High Court since 2017 and the high court should have granted him bail.
“The appellant has undergone incarceration for a period of more than 11 years. In fact, the High Court ought to have granted relief under Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to the appellant,” the apex court opined.
Decision on bail conditions
The SC has directed that he be produced before the sessions judge to decide on bail conditions.
“Accordingly, the appellant shall be enlarged on bail pending the final disposal of the appeal before the High Court,” the SC said.
The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by Khajekar, through advocate Sana Raees Khan, challenging the order of the high court rejecting his bail plea on two occasions.
Khan argued that Khajekar was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017. He has undergone incarceration for 11 years and his Appeal is pending in the High Court since 6 years
“There are three interested eye witnesses in the case and no independent witness was examined though the offence took place in a public place. Eye witnesses deposed in their cross examination that when they reached the spot, they saw the deceased lying in a pool of blood which establishes that they have not witnessed the incident,” Khan argued.
She argued that the sample of the footprint recovered from the spot and Khajekar’s footprint were sent for Chemical Analysis. However, the report of the chemical analyser is inconclusive.
The HC, while rejecting his bail plea on August 20, 2019 said: “However, considering the period spent by the applicants in jail, we expedite the hearing of the appeal and direct its placing on board as per its serial number.”
