Read Time: 07 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted 90-day parole to serial killer Chandrakant Jha who is serving a life term after being convicted in three murder cases.

While granting parole to Jha, the bench of Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that Jha had spent more than 15 years in jail and had not been released in the last 3 years while his conduct behind bars had been "satisfactory".

The single-judge bench granted 90 days parole to Jha on furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.25,000 with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the concerned Jail Superintendent.

The court directed Jha not to leave the city without permission, to provide his mobile phone number to the jail authorities as well as the SHO concerned at the time of his release on parole and mark his presence at the local police station every third day.

Counsel for Jha sought parole on the ground that he has four daughters and has to finalise a suitable groom for the eldest daughter and it is his duty being her father to find a suitable match for her and get her engaged as his wife alone shall not be able to handle everything on her own. It was submitted that there is no other male member in the family apart from him.

The counsel further submitted that Jha had not been released in the last 3 years and thus, it had become “extremely essential for him to be released to re-establish social ties with his family”.

On the contrary, the State argued that on the lines of the status report, Jha had criminal antecedents and had been convicted in three cases of murder. It was further argued that the overall conduct of Jha was unsatisfactory and if released on parole, the possibility of jumping the parole by him could not be ruled out.

“The petitioner has undergone more than 15 years and 6 months in judicial custody and he has not been released in the last 3 years. The conduct of the petitioner is satisfactory, he has also been released on parole on five occasions and furlough on seven occasions and there is no allegation that the petitioner had misused his liberty, therefore, this Court considers it apposite to allow the present petition. Accordingly, the petition is allowed and petitioner is granted parole for a period of 90 days”, the court held.

On January 27, 2016, the high court had commuted the death sentence awarded to Jha to imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” without remission. The court had said that Jha must be “emphatically and adequately punished” for his heinous crime.

Notably in February 2013, Jha was sentenced to life term till death in a case related to the killing of a man namely Dilip whose headless body was dumped near Tihar Jail in 2007. He was sentenced to death in the second case of murder by the same trial court, which had said that his offence fell under the “rarest of rare cases” as the brutality committed by him showed he could not be reformed.

The trial court had also awarded a death sentence to Jha for killing a 19-year-old boy, Upender, and dumping his headless body also near Tihar Jail in 2007.

Case Title: Chandrakant Jha v. State of NCT of Delhi