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The Supreme Court has allowed former RJD MP Prabhunath Singh, convicted of the offence of murder for shooting down two persons for allegedly voting against him in 1995, to appear virtually on September 1 for pronouncement of sentence.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul took an application filed by Singh on board on Friday, upon a mentioning made by senior advocate R Basant on his behalf.

"The applicant/respondent No. 2 (Singh) is permitted to appear virtually through video conferencing on 01.09.2023 for hearing on question of sentence, instead of the physical appearance, as directed vide judgement dated 18.08.2023," the bench said in its order.

Singh is at present undergoing life term in another murder case.

In its August 18 judgement, the apex court had allowed the appeal filed by victim Harendra Rai against the Patna High Court's judgement of December 2, 2021 which had upheld the trial court's decision of October 24, 2008, acquitting Singh and six others of all the charges related to killing of Rajendra Rai, 18, and Daroga Rai, 47, near a polling booth in Chhapra. 

The bench, also comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath, had convicted Singh of the offences under Section 302 and 307 of the IPC and directed his production in custody before the court on September 1 for pronouncement of sentence.

The top court had then also made damning observations against the police, prosecution and the judiciary, saying this case was exceptionally painful episode of our criminal justice system.

"We have noticed that the three main stake holders in a criminal trial, namely the Investigating Officer that is the part of the police of the State of Bihar, the Public Prosecutor, and the Judiciary, have all utterly failed to keep up their respective duties and responsibilities cast upon them," the bench had said. 

The bench reversed the High Court and the trial court's judgements as they failed to notice the sensitivity and intricacies of the case involving the then ruling party leader who mustered full support of the administration and prosecution and won over almost all the witnesses.

The court had also noted a "clear and deliberate lapse" as well as "tainted role" by the prosecution in not producing the investigating officer and other witnesses.

The bench had relied upon a statement of injured Rajendra Rai, who subsequently died of gun shot injuries, saying it is to be read as a dying declaration.

"The dying declaration and the statement of Lalmuni Devi (mother of deceased) fully establish that it was Prabhunath Singh, who had caused the injuries from his firearm weapon, which proved to be fatal for two out of the three injured and also caused injury to the third surviving injured witness, namely Smt Lalmuni Devi," the bench had said.

In its other observations, the court said the High Court as well as the trial court failed to exercise their powers to summon the witnesses of the charge-sheet to prove the police papers, in gross violation of Section 311 CrPC.

Justice Nath, who authored the 143-page judgement, noted everything was going as per the plan and wish of the main accused Prabhunath Singh, a political leader and a sitting Member of Parliament at the relevant time as he had mustered full support of the administration and the investigating; he had influenced and won over almost all the witnesses of fact mentioned in the charge sheet (who were declared hostile), the relevant formal witnesses including the investigating officer were not produced in the trial by the prosecution.

The Public Prosecutor prosecuting the case was supporting the defence, the Presiding Officers were completely insensitive towards their pious duty, but everything turned upside down when he committed a glaring mistake and that one mistake cost him heavily, it said.

Singh got the court witness, Smt Lalmuni Devi abducted ten days before the date fixed for recording her statement. This led to filing of a Habeas Corpus petition before the High Court, a report submitted by the Inspecting Judge result of an unruly incident which occurred in the trial court on the date Smt Lalmuni Devi deposed and another report of the inspecting judge commenting upon the judgment of acquittal by the trial court, the bench had said.

Case Title: Harendra Rai Vs State of Bihar and Ors.