Katara murder: SC raps UP, Delhi govt over delay in forming medical board for Vikas Yadav’s mother
The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the State has to be fair as it rapped the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments over delay in constituting a medical board to examine the condition of the mother of Vikas Yadav, who is serving jail term in the Nitish Katara case.
Yadav, who is serving a 25-year jail term in the 2002 murder case, has sought interim bail for attending to his ailing mother.
A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed surprise that despite its April 2 order, it took 10 days to constitute a medical board to examine the condition of his mother who was admitted to the Yashoda Hospital in Ghaziabad.
The court noted that by the time the medical board visited, Yadav’s mother was discharged from the hospital.
The counsel appearing for Yadav submitted that the mother was admitted to the hospital again on Monday.
“You took 10 days to constitute a medical board. There needs to be some explanation. Don’t take use of our mild language in the order. The state may have something against the petitioner but the State has to be fair," the Bench observed.
The top court directed that a fresh medical board be constituted by the medical superintendent of AIIMS and assessment be done immediately and a report be submitted.
Yadav’s counsel had said the mother’s condition had deteriorated in February as he placed on record her medical documents. He said Yadav’s mother was in the intensive care unit and had refused surgery.
In his interim bail plea, Yadav said his mother Umesh Yadav was critically ill and hospitalised in the ICU. The treating doctors, the plea said, advised immediate surgical intervention given her medical condition.
“Due to the serious condition of the petitioner’s mother, his assistance and presence is needed,” the plea said.
On October 3, 2016, the apex court sentenced Yadav without any benefit of remission. He is the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav. His cousin Vishal Yadav was also punished for the kidnapping and murder of business executive Katara.
The duo was against Katara’s alleged affair with Bharti Yadav, sister of Vikas, as they belonged to different castes.
Another co-convict Sukhdev Pehalwan was given a 20-year jail term without any remission benefit.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court, while upholding the life imprisonment awarded to Vikas and Vishal Yadav by the trial court, specified a 30-year sentence, without any remission, to both of them. It had awarded a 25-year jail term to the third convict Pehalwan.
The Delhi prisons administration had last year rejected Yadav’s remission request after his conduct was found to be unsatisfactory.
India