The Supreme Court on 27 October 2026 cancelled the suspension of a life sentence imposed on the principal accused in a sarpanch-election murder conspiracy.
Judge / Bench — Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran.
Partly allowing Hanuman Prasad @ Hanuta Ram’s appeals, the Court directed accused A1 to surrender within two weeks, failing which apprehension proceedings must follow. It left the other respondents’ sentence suspensions undisturbed because the evidence against them differed.
The Court said appeal backlogs cannot alone justify releasing people convicted of heinous offences. Courts must assess the prima facie evidence, actual imprisonment, likely delay and victims’ interests. Its observations would not govern the pending appeals.
Advocates appearing — Appellant: Rishi Matoliya, AoR. State: Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Counsel. A1: Abhishek Gupta, AoR. A2, A8 and A10: Vikas Verma, AoR.