Supreme Court suspends sentence of two convicts in their 70s in jail for over 9 years

The Supreme Court recently ordered the suspension of sentence of two convicts over 70 years of age, who have been in prison for more than 9 years in connection with a murder case [Mahendra Rai @ Harendra Narain Singh and Others v. State of Bihar]..A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Khanna and Bela M Trivedi was hearing an application for suspension of sentence moved by three accused against the sentencing handed down to the applicants in a 1983 murder case by the trial court, which was later upheld by the Patna High Court.The present applicants were convicted by the trial court under Section 302 [Punishment for Murder] read with Section 149 [Unlawful Assembly] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, inter alia, under Section 436 [mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house etc] read with Section 149 to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years, all to run concurrently..It was brought to the notice of the top court that two out of the three accused, namely Meetaram Rai and Ram Ekbal Rai, are over 70 years of age and have already undergone imprisonment for over 9 years.It was also informed the Court that the third accused, Jugat Lal Rai was a juvenile, on the date of occurrence of the offence in the year 1983..Considering the facts and revelations brought to the notice of the Court, the top Court allowed the application of suspension of sentence of the three accused."Meetaram Rai (appellant no. 3), Ram Ekbal Rai (appellant no.6) and Jugat Lal Rai (appellant no. 13) would be released on bail on suspension of sentence on terms and conditions which will be imposed by the Trial Court," the Supreme Court stated in its order..Advocates-on-Record Sriram Parakkat, Shikhar Srivastava, Viresh B Saharya, advocates Nachiketa Vajpayee, Sanjay Pal, Divyajyothi Singh, Divyangna Malik and Prerna Singh appeared for the applicants.Advocate-on-Record Samir Ali Khan and advocate Akshat Agarwal appeared for the respondent..[Read Order]