After 48-year struggle for justice, 104-year-old walks free from jail
The sentence of a co-accused, Deshraj, who is bedridden and already out on bail due to age-related ailments, was also set aside.
: The 104-year-old Lakhan Pasi could barely walk as he stepped out of Kaushambi jail on Tuesday (May 20). His nearly five-decade-long struggle for justice had taken its toll before finally bearing fruit. The Allahabad high court set aside his conviction by a lower court in a 48-year-old murder case in an order dated May 2.
The sentence of a co-accused, Deshraj, who is bedridden and already out on bail due to age-related ailments, was also set aside. Their appeal against conviction had been pending for four decades.
Two other accused – Kaleshwar and Kallu -- had died during the legal proceedings.
A visibly tired Lakhan repeatedly thanked the court with shaking, folded hands for his long-awaited release.
“Judge saheb log humka choddh diye. Bahut bahut meherbani kiye (The judges have set me free. A lot of thanks to them),” he kept repeating.
A double bench of the Allahabad high court, comprising Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Nand Prabha Shukla, set aside the life sentence passed by the Allahabad sessions court in 1982.
“The judgment and order of conviction dated 02.11.1982 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge IV, Allahabad in Sessions Trial No.162 of 1980, is hereby set aside,” the high court said.
Giving the accused the benefit of doubt, the high court said, “…the findings of the trial court that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt, therefore, cannot be sustained. The accused appellants are clearly entitled to benefit of doubt in the matter. “
It took 18 days after the high court order for Lakhan to taste freedom due to a delay in sending the release order from Prayagraj to Kaushambi jail, according to Poornima Pranjal, secretary of District Legal Services Authority, Kaushambi, and additional district judge.
According to the facts of the case, Lakhan was sent to jail along with three others on charges of murdering a fellow villager, Prabhu, in August 1977, reportedly due to an old enmity.
Lakhan Pasi, son of Mangali Pasi, is resident of the nondescript Gourey village in the Sarai Akhil police station area of Kaushambi district (then part of Allahabad).
Kaushambi jail superintendent Ajitesh Kumar said Lakhan’s Aadhaar card shows his date of birth as January 04, 1921, going by which he is 104-years-old.
The FIR, waslodged on August 6, 1977, at 6 pm, in Case Crime No. 134 of 1977 under Section 323/308 Indian Penal Code (according to court records), at Sarai Aqil police station.
After the accused spent five years in jail initially, the lower court convicted all four, including Lakhan, in 1982.
The high court order dated May 2, 2025, stated: “The appellant no.1 Lakhan and the appellant no.2 Deshraj shall be set free, if they are in jail and in the event, they are on bail, their bail bonds shall stand discharged subject to compliance of Section 437-A of Cr.P.C. provided that they are not wanted in any other case.”
The high court order also said, “As it was admitted by witnesses that there was previous enmity between accused persons and deceased therefore case of false implication of accused cannot be ruled out.”
The court observed, “It has been further held that in case of proven previous enmity, a possibility of false implication cannot be ruled out. It has been asserted that as far as delay in registration of the FIR is concerned, the immediate lodging of the FIR removes suspicion with regard to over implication of number of persons, particularly, when the case involved a fight between two groups. When the parties are at loggerheads, the immediate lodging of the FIR, provides credence to the prosecution case.”
Doubting the prosecution story, high court allowed the criminal appeal of the convicted person and said, “ The failure of the prosecution to explain the genesis and origin of the occurrence has the effect of prosecution failing to bring on record the correct version of the event. The improbability of the prosecution regarding the genesis and events and the manner in which the incident were unfolded, created a doubt on the prosecution case, which has not been examined by the Court below. The findings of the trial court that prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt, therefore, cannot be sustained. The accused appellants are clearly entitled to benefit of doubt in the matter. “
Meanwhile, back home Lakhan has started forgetting things, according to Asha Devi, one of his five daughters with whom he is currently residing.
“My mother Pyaari passed away around 20 years back while he was in jail. She is the only family member he often remembers. We are five sisters and one brother. My mother sold our land on which we used to do farming for paying legal fees in the last 48 years. But no one helped. We have nothing left now,” she said.
Suraj Bali, Lakhan’s only son, who works as a labourer in Manjhanpur tehsil of the district, shared his own struggles.
“I grew up without seeing my father. I used to see my mother, till she was alive, running from one advocate to another with a bunch of papers, to get our father released from jail. She passed away without seeing him free. However, now he does not remember most of our relatives. His vision has also become weak,” he added.
Advocate Ankit Maurya said since Lakhan did not have a counsel, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Kaushambi, stepped in and assigned him (Maurya) the responsibility.
“After being convicted by the district court in 1982, Lakhan had been out on bail on a few occasions. He was sent back to jail the last time in December 2024. But now he is free. The court has set him free under relevant sections of the IPC pertaining to Right to Private Defence, as the prosecution could not prove his crime,” Maurya added.
“The appeal of Lakhan and three others remained pending over four decades in Allahabad High Court, during which two of the accused passed away while the third is bedridden. After the high court took cognizance of the case pending for such a long time, warrant was issued by CJM (chief judicial magistrate’s) court on surviving two accused Lakhan and Deshraj, who were out on bail. The police went to arrest Deshraj also but since he was bedridden, a photograph of Deshraj was placed before the CJM court while Lakhan was sent to Kaushambi jail in December 2024,” he said.
Additional district judge Poornima Pranjal, who is secretary of DLSA, Kaushambi, said the high court issued the release order on May 02, 2025. “However, delay in sending of release order from Prayagraj to Kaushambi jail resulted in delay of release of Lakhan by another 18 days,” she added.
“Following the court order and with the cooperation of district jail superintendent, Lakhan was released from Kaushambi district jail on Tuesday,” she said.
Superintendent of Kaushambi district jail Ajitesh Kumar said special care was taken of Lakhan in terms of food due to his age, and he was kept in the jail hospital to ensure proper medical care.
