On Tuesday, the Apex Court was extremely wary of granting parole to a few septuagenarians serving life terms in Agra & Mathura jails after their conviction in a 30-year-old case of honour killing that saw a khap panchayat, under Barsana police station in Uttar Pradesh, forcing the families of two young men & a girl to kill & cremate them. The septuagenarians have sought parole due to spread of COVID-19 in Agra & Mathura jails.

The gruesome incident took place in March 1991 after one Roshni eloped with Vijendra, who had taken the help of his friend Ram Kishan. The khap panchayat decided to kill the three & assigned the task to the three youngsters’ fathers, who with the aid of villagers, first hung them upside down on a tree, burnt their private parts & tortured them, & then killed & cremated them.

The Trial Court convicted 38, awarded the death sentence to 8, including the parents, & life sentence to the rest. The Allahabad High Court in 2016 commuted the 8 death sentences to life imprisonment.

Of the 8, 5 people, some of them over 70 years old, through advocate Amita Gupta pleaded with a bench headed by CJI S A Bobde for release on parole/bail given the incidence of Covid-19 in Agra & Mathura central jails. Uttar Pradesh Govt lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain opposed their release while terming the incident gruesome & explained the adequate medical facilities & precautionary steps taken by authorities in the two jails.

“The offences for which they are convicted are serious. This is not an ordinary crime. It can disrupt society & spread fear against the decision to marry according to one’s choice. Nonetheless, Covid too is a serious problem. We will seek a report from probation officers in the jails about the desirability of releasing these persons on parole/bail,” the Bench said.

In its order, the bench said, “We are of the view that it would be expedient in the interest of justice to ask the probation officers of Agra & Mathura central jails to interview the applicants, examine their records & submit a report to this court. The report shall indicate their present state of health, physically & mentally, & shall, in particular, state whether their release would create a problem in the sense that they would be inclined to rake up the incident & create trouble for others or themselves.”

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