Delhi HC reduces 90-year-old’s 3-yr sentence to one day already served in 1984

Surender Kumar was arrested in 1984 for demanding a bribe for awarding a contract to supply dry fish to the State Trading Corporation of India

The Delhi high court has reduced the sentence of a 90-year-old man, convicted in a 41-year-old corruption case, from three years to one day—effectively treating the sentence as already served in 1984, when he spent a single day in custody following his arrest. The court observed that imprisonment at this age would pose a severe risk to the convict’s physical and mental well-being.

Surender Kumar, who was working as the chief marketing manager of STC, was arrested in January 1984 but was released the next day. (HT Archive)

In his ruling delivered on Tuesday, justice Jasmeet Singh granted the relief to Surender Kumar, whose plea challenged a trial court’s 2002 order sentencing him to three years in jail for corruption.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case against Kumar in 1984 for demanding ₹15,000 as a bribe for awarding a contract to supply 140 tonnes of dry fish to the State Trading Corporation of India (STC). Kumar, who was working as the chief marketing manager of STC, was arrested in January 1984 but was released the next day. In 2002 Kumar challenged his conviction and pressed for reducing the quantum of the sentence to the period already served – one day.

In his petition to the high court, Kumar said that incarceration in his advanced age and deteriorating health would result in undue hardship. He said he had already deposited the fine amount of ₹15,000 and the prolonged delay in the conclusion of the appeal filed in 2002 had resulted in a violation of his fundamental right to a speedy trial. CBI did not oppose Kumar’s request for a reduction of sentence.

Taking note of the pendency of the appeal for 22 years and continuation of the case for more than four decades, justice Singh in the ruling released on Wednesday held that the inordinate delay in deciding the appeal was violative of Kumar’s fundamental right to a speedy trial. “Such inordinate delay is plainly at odds with the constitutional mandate of a speedy trial envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution. The Sword of Damocles and uncertainty qua the fate of the case of the appellant have been uncertain for a period of nearly 40 years and that by itself is a mitigating factor,” the court said.

In his 14-page ruling, the judge also took note of Kumar’s conduct, cooperation and clean criminal antecedents, and said that such an incarceration could cause irreversible harm and go against the purpose of reducing or mitigating the sentence. “At 90 years old, suffering from serious health ailments, he is highly vulnerable to the physical and psychological impact of incarceration. Any such imprisonment would risk causing irreversible harm and would defeat the very objective of mitigating the sentence. The appellant has duly prosecuted his appeal till today — for more than 40 years there has been no other FIR or criminal case of any kind registered against the appellant,” the court said.