The Supreme Court has suspended Kamal Sahu’s life sentence while his appeal against a conviction for murdering his wife remains pending in the Jharkhand High Court.
Sahu was convicted under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, he had undergone more than four and a half years of imprisonment.
The judges noted that his High Court appeal dated from 2024 and was unlikely to be resolved quickly. They set aside the refusal to suspend sentence and granted bail on terms determined by the trial court.
The decision is an interim assessment of appellate delay, not an endorsement of the defence or a reversal of guilt. It recognises that lengthy incarceration during an unresolved appeal can require conditional release even after conviction for a grave offence.