A murder convict serving rigorous life imprisonment walked free on Thursday thanks to outdated judicial norms.
They decree that case records be destroyed if the convict does not challenge his sentence within five years. However, there is no time limit on when the appeal can be filed. In the absence of records, and as the complainant is untraceable, ruling out a retrial, the court was forced to acquit the accused, but not before observing that it was high time that e-records of cases be maintained.
Forty-year-old Alkesh Kumar alias Mithun Mishra was convicted by a Mumbai sessions court in 1998 for murdering a fellow street dweller at Girgaum Chowpatty in January 1996. He filed an appeal challenging the conviction as late as in September 2005. By the time it came up for hearing, the sessions court registry had already destroyed the case records, in accordance with the rules of criminal manual and rule 15 of Bombay high court appellate side.
In August 2008, when the case came before the high court, it called for the records of the case. The court was then informed by the public prosecution that the registry had destroyed the records.
The court, then, on February 9, asked the senior police inspector of DB Marg police to find out if retrial was possible. Senior PI Vinod Sawant informed the court that the complainant has changed his residence, and of the 13 witnesses, only three are traceable.
A division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and Mridula Bhatkar hence ruled out a retrial. The court further observed: “In the absence of records, we cannot give hearing [to the convict’s appeal], and due to lack of evidence and witnesses, even retrial is not possible. We will have to follow the rules, and acquit the convict.” The court was following a 2004 Supreme Court order in a similar case.
The court, however, also observed that this order should not be followed as precedent. “To prevent abuse [by criminals deliberately delaying filing an appeal], we need to change our criminal manual. E-records need to be maintained in order to give a fair hearing to the appeal,” remarked the court.
The court has now directed the high court registry to put this order before the Chief Justice, who may then issue directives to appropriate authorities in order to maintain e-records in the future. “Kumar will be released from Yerawada Central Prison as soon as the order copy is delivered to the authorities,” said his legal aid Indrayani Koparkar.
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