India News | 2001 Murder Case: SC Issues Notice on Plea of Convict Claiming to Be Juvenile at Time of Incident
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Supreme Court Monday sought West Bengal's reply on a plea by a man who is serving life term in a murder case of 2001 and now claims that he was a juvenile at the time of incident, challenging the Calcutta High Court verdict upholding his conviction in the matter.
New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday sought West Bengal's reply on a plea by a man who is serving life term in a murder case of 2001 and now claims that he was a juvenile at the time of incident, challenging the Calcutta High Court verdict upholding his conviction in the matter.
A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna issued notice on the plea and posted it for hearing after four weeks.
The apex court was told by the counsel appearing for the petitioner that the man has undergone 20 years and four months in jail, including the period spent as an under-trial prisoner in the case.
The petitioner's counsel had last month told the court that the man seeks to raise the plea of juvenility, though for the first time, in the court based on a certificate issued by the head master of a school in Odisha's Bhadrak district on February 19 this year.
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The bench noted on Monday that in pursuance to its earlier order, the session judge, Bhadrak has submitted a report after recording the statement of the head master of the school there.
“Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Liberty to serve the standing counsel for the state of West Bengal in addition,” the bench said.
The top court had earlier noted that there was an "obvious discrepancy" in the date of birth of the petitioner which has been indicated in figures and in words in the certificate.
It had asked the sessions judge, Bhadrak to ensure that original school record along with the certified photocopies for the period in question is obtained from the school and is made available to the court.
The apex court had noted that the certificate indicates in figures that the date of birth of the petitioner in the school record is May 20, 1984 while in words it is mentioned as July 20, 1984.
The man was convicted and sentenced for the offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 302 (murder), by a trial court in March 2004.
The high court had in September last year dismissed his appeal and upheld the conviction.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)