New Delhi, December 21: The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered “forthwith” release of former Youth Congress leader Sushil Kumar Sharma, serving a life sentence for murdering his wife Naina Sahni in 1995. Sharma has already undergone over two decades of incarceration.
The order was passed by Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal. Sharma, now 56, shot his wife in 1995, objecting to her alleged relationship with a male friend. He then chopped her body and tried to burn the pieces in a restaurant oven.
The tandoor (oven) case is one of the landmark cases in India in which DNA evidence was collected and a second autopsy performed to establish the guilt of the accused. The HC quashed the recommendations of the sentence review board (SRB) which had rejected Sharma’s representation for premature release. It also set aside the “non-speaking affirmation” of SRB’s recommendations by the Lieutenant Governor, who is the competent authority.
“We accordingly direct that the state shall release Sushil Sharma forthwith,” the Bench said. The court had earlier issued a notice to the Delhi Government and sought its stand on Sharma’s plea for release on the grounds that he has been jailed for over two decades, including the period of remission, and his continued incarceration was illegal.
Sharma, in prison since 1995, had contended that he has already undergone the maximum prescribed sentence as mandated under the SRB guidelines. — PTI
