Man accused of killing mother, brother & sister in-law mentally unfit to realise repercussions of actions
Saturday, 14 May 2022 | PNS | Nainital
The Uttarakhand high court has overturned the death sentence awarded by a lower court to a man accused of murdering his mother, elder brother and his pregnant wife with a sword. The high court has sent the case back to the lower court for hearing again. The high court arrived at its decision considering the mentally unstable condition of the accused which was not taken cognisance of by the lower court.
According to the case details, resident of Gumal village in Tehri district, Sanjay Singh had murdered his mother, brother and his pregnant wife on a minor issue on September 13, 2014. The father of the accused, Ram Singh Panwar had lodge a report regarding the triple murders. The court of the additional district and sessions judge, Rama Pandey had handed out the death sentence to Singh in August 2021 which was challenged by him in the high court. The high court division bench of the acting chief justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and justice RC Khulbe had appointed senior advocate Arvind Vashishth as Nyay Mitra in the case to act as counsel for the accused. The Nyay Mitra informed the court that the man awarded the death sentence was not mentally fit. The medical board had also found the man mentally sick, stating that he was not aware of the repercussions of his actions though his condition can be improved with treatment. However, the lower court had ignored this aspect and awarded him the death sentence, said the counsel. Based on the facts presented by the Nyay Mitra and the medical report, the HC overturned the death sentence, sent the case back to the lower court for hearing again and directed that an examination of the mental condition of the accused be conducted.
