SC issues notice to Delhi Principal Secretary, Home, over remission delay

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a contempt notice to the Principal Secretary, Home, of the Delhi government for failing to decide on the remission plea of a convict in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan directed the senior official to explain why action should not be initiated under the Contempt of Courts Act. The court also ordered the official to appear before it on March 28 via video conferencing.

The order came after the bench noted that the Delhi government had previously assured the court that the remission plea of Sukhdev Pehalwan, serving a 20-year sentence, would be decided within two weeks. However, the Sentence Review Board (SRB) had yet to consider the petitioner's request.

"We believe that unless a contempt notice is issued, our orders are not complied with," the bench observed.

In the high-profile case, Sukhdev Pehalwan was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while co-convicts Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal Yadav were sentenced to 25 years without the possibility of remission. They were convicted for kidnapping and murdering Katara in February 2002 over his alleged relationship with Vikas Yadav’s sister, Bharti Yadav. The lower court had ruled that the murder was an "honor killing" driven by caste-based discrimination.

Vikas Yadav, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D.P. Yadav, has also filed a plea before the Supreme Court challenging the denial of his remission. His petition argues that remission is a constitutional right under Article 21, emphasizing that no criminal court can impose a fixed minimum sentence of 25 years for life imprisonment, thereby restricting eligibility for remission.

Meanwhile, Nilam Katara, the mother of the deceased, has urged the court to dismiss the convict’s petition, maintaining that justice must be upheld in her son's murder case.