After 15 years: HC orders release of man wrongly given lifer when minor

Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Friday directed release of a convict who has already spent 15 years in prison in connection with a firing case after it found that the man was a minor when he was sentenced for a lifer.

According to information, Jitu Prakash Sahoo alias Jituna one of the four accused involved in a firing near Jobra gate on November 28, 2002 was convicted and was sentenced for life after fast track trial by Cuttack District and Sessions Judge court in 2005.

Subsequently, the accused filed an appeal against the sentence in the Orissa High Court but he never pleaded his juvenility.

In 2015, advocate Rakesh Kumar Mallick on behalf of the convict, lodged a miscellaneous case in the High Court urging it to reconsider the sentence.

“Basing on the birth and other age certificates, we found that Jitu Prakash was just 17 years 5 months and 18 days when he got the lifer and so we filed a plea in the High Court to revoke the sentence since a juvenile cannot serve more than three years in prison,” Jitu Prakash’ counsel Rakesh Kumar Mallick said.

After inspecting the documents the High Court ordered the Juvenile Justice Board for an enquiry into the matter in July 2017.

Based on the probe report, the court has directed immediate release of the convict presently serving his sentence in Choudwar jail and ordered the police to produce him before the Juvenile Justice Board on October 25.