HC orders to provide facilities for death convicts in DM murder case

Patna, Nov 23 (UNI) Patna High Court today directed the Bihar government to provide facilities of upper division prisoner to the incarcerated former minister Akhlaq Ahmad.

Mr Ahmad was awarded death sentence by a lower court in connection with the murder of the then Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiya near Khabra in Muzaffarpur on December five, 1994.

A division bench of the court, comprising Justice Ghanshyam Singh and Justice S K Sharma, passed the order during hearing of the petition filed by Mr Ahmad, challenging the death sentence awarded to him by the lower court.

Counsel of the petitioner alleged that Mr Ahmad was being kept in solitary confinement and also being denied the facilities admissible to a former minister.

Hearing an identical petition filed by incarcerated former MP Ananad Mohan and former MLA Arun Kumar - the death convicts in the G Krishnaiya murder case - the court ordered the state government to provide facilities to them in the light of the judgement delivered in the Sunil Batra case.

The bench also rejected the bail petition filed by the convicts, facing death sentence, and observed that it would be improper to consider the request at at this stage.

UNI