Delhi HC adjourns Sikh riot convict’s plea for suspension of interim life sentence, says during pandemic he is better off inside jail

By LE Staff

New Delhi, June 14, 2021: The Delhi High Court today adjourned the hearing on the interim suspension of the life sentence awarded to a 1984 Delhi Sikh riots convict, observing that during the pandemic he was better off inside the jail rather than outside.

The High Court was hearing an application filed by the convict, Naresh Sehrawat, seeking a two-week suspension of his sentence awarded in 2019 for involvement in the 1984 riots. A Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Asha Menon adjourned the matter on July 5.

In 2020, the High Court had suspended the sentence of the convict after noting that he is “a Chronic Kidney Disease, Stage-IV patient and is admitted in the medicine ward of the Central Jail hospital and is highly vulnerable to a contagious disease like COVID-19.”

Advocate Dharamraj Ohlan, appearing for Sehrawat told the court that the petitioner’s liver is “almost 90 percent damaged” and was a Kidney patient “at his last stage”. Ohlan told the court that Sehrawat’s medical condition was “deteriorating on a daily basis” and that he is not able to “speak, stand and way properly.”

This is Sehrawat’s eighth application filed before the court and he is currently in the medicine ward at Central Jail hospital.

Senior Advocate RS Cheema, appearing for the Special Investigation Team (SIT) opposed the application. He said Sehrawat got an interim bail after his sentence was suspended due to his medical condition from June 1, 2020, till April 5, 2021 following a Supreme Court order.

Cheema told the court that according to Sehrawat’s medical report, his medical condition is stable and satisfactory on medications. “All prescribed medicines and special medical diet has been provided and the inmate has received two doses of Covid vaccine,” Cheema told the bench.