Convict freed due to typo by Delhi High Court

A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal also directed the arrest of the convict whose forthwith release was ordered by the high court on December 24, 2016. 

The direction came on the pleas by three of the witnesses in the case. The court on February 14, 2017 had modified its December order by deleting two sentences of its judgment that said the convict be sentenced ‘to the period already undergone of 16 years and 10 months’ and that he ‘be released forthwith if not required in any other case’.

It had also ordered Tihar Jail’s Superintendent to take appropriate action against the convict and intimate the high court. However, since his release the convict, Jitender, was missing and now the high court has directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to take steps to take him into custody at the earliest. 

Jitender, a former Delhi University student, was awarded 30 years jail term by a trial court in one murder case and to remain in prison for the rest of his life in another.