The Delhi High Court has dismissed an application filed by Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Raju Kumar Singh seeking suspension of his conviction in a case arising from the fatal shooting of a woman during a New Year’s Eve party in 2018.
Justice Manoj Jain refused to stay Singh’s conviction under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 30 of the Arms Act.
In the order dated September 29, the Court said that the nature of the offence contains an element of "moral turpitude".
“There is no strait jacket formula to decipher as to which offence can be said to be involving moral turpitude. It, essentially, depends upon the facts of a given case but said expression does imply that the act must be inherently base and depraved, contrary to good morals and shakes the moral conscience of society. The act and conduct in question are, clearly, suggestive of offence of said category only,” the Court observed.
It added that Singh does not have clean antecedents and there is a long list of cases against him.
The case arose from celebratory firing at a farmhouse party on the intervening night of December 31, 2018 and January 1, 2019. It was stated that Singh and security guard Hari Singh fired weapons during the celebrations. After a gap of about five minutes, another round of firing allegedly took place, during which Singh was the only person seen firing. A woman named Archana Gupta was found unconscious shortly afterwards and later died.
On June 6, 2026, Singh was convicted by a Delhi court. He was sentenced to four years’ simple imprisonment under the IPC provision and two months under the Arms Act, besides being directed to pay ₹25 lakh as compensation to the deceased’s family. His sentence was later suspended by the court in July 2026.
In his application, Singh argued that suspension of his conviction was necessary as his four-year sentence attracted disqualification under Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act.
It was stated he was a sitting MLA from Sahebganj in Bihar and that continued operation of the conviction could result in his disqualification from the assembly and future elections.
The prosecution opposed the plea, stressing that suspension of conviction is an exceptional remedy.
After considering the case, the High Court said that no “manifest perversity” or “palpable error” warranting suspension of the conviction wa made out in the case.
“In view of my foregoing discussion, the present application seeking suspension of order of conviction is dismissed,” the Court ultimately said.
Senior Advocates Siddharth Luthra and Ravi Prakash along with advocates Samarth Luthra, Aditi Tripathi, Pragya Priya, Kushagra Raj, Manoviraj Singh, Madhusruti N, Sumana Mukherjee, Aditi Paul, Astu Khandelwal, Shruti, Manavi Tyagi, Divyodit, Kshitiz Kumar and Muskan Sharma represented Raju Kumar Singh.
Advocate Sunil Kumar Gautam represented the State.
[Read Order]