SC upholds life sentence to a history-sheeter of UP

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI) The Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to a history sheeter of Uttar Pradesh allegedly involved in 34 criminal cases, rejecting his plea that he was a minor at the time of commission of the offence of murder, A bench comprising Mr. Justices S.B. Sinha and P.P.

Naolekar vide judgment dated May 12, while dismissing the appeal of Ravinder Singh Gorkhi, observed,"It would be a duty of the court of law to accord the benefit to a juvenile provided he is one. To give same benefit to a person who in fact is not a juvenile may cause injustice to the victim." The appellant claimed that his date of birth was June 1,1963 and first case filed against him was in 1973. A large number of cases under UP Goonda Act and Arms Act are pending against him.

In the present case the petitioner, his father Surender Pal Singh, Satish Chandra, Narender and Ramji Lal were convicted and sentenced to life term for the murder of one Chattar Pal on May 15,1979 in Bulandshahr area of Western UP. The appeals filed by other convicts had been dismissed by this court earlier.

The court took note of the fact that the petitioner left the school in 1967 and school issued certificate in 1972 which was signed by the head master of primary school in 1998. Even the original of the certificate was not available and the school register did not show his date of birth.The name of the petitioner recorded in the school certificate was Ravinder Pal Singh while in appeal his name is Ravinder Singh Gorkhi.

The court rejected the report of the Sessions judge, Bulandshahr saying that his age seemed to be 16 years at the time of commission of crime. Plea of the petitioner being juvenile was raised for the first time in the Supreme Court which is not permissible.

UNI AKS/SC RP KN1940