Court releases convict before completion of three-year jail term

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, October 7

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Rajesh Kumar Sharma has ordered release of a convict, Shane Alam, before completion of three years in jail.

The court took a humanitarian view after Ashok Tyagi, counsel for the convict, did not challenge the conviction, but only sought relief on the point of the three-year jail sentence awarded to the convict by the trial court.

Shane Alam has already completed one year nine months and 10 days in jail since he was arrested in the case.

The counsel said he was not challenging the judgment passed by the trial court, however, he prayed to take a lenient view while considering the aspect of quantum of sentence awarded by the trial court.

The counsel argued that the appellant/convict was a poor person having a small child and old parents to look after and was the sole bread earner of the family.

The court said, “The appellant has faced agony and trauma of this criminal prosecution for such a long period. He must have lived every moment under stress. Since the convict has been in the judicial custody from the date of his arrest i.e. August 15, 2018, till date, therefore, the order of sentence deserves to be modified. Resultantly, the order of sentence dated April 6, 2019, is hereby modified to the extent that the convict is sentenced to undergo the imprisonment already undergone by him during the period from August 15, 2018, till date.”

The convict was arrested on the complaint of Priyanka of Vikas Nagar, Mauli Jagran, Chandigarh, who told the police that some unknown person entered her house and snatched away her gold chain at night. She raised an alarm, but the accused managed to escape around 3 am. The police arrested the accused on August 15, 2018, and since then he has been confined to judicial custody. After hearing the witnesses and defence, Jagmeet Singh, JMIC, held the accused guilty of the commission of offence punishable under Sections 356, 380, 457 and 411 of the IPC and sentenced him to three-year’ rigorous imprisonment in the order pronounced on April 6, 2019.