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Delhi high court suspends Bihar BJP leader Raju Pal Singh’s prison sentence
The trial court , while pronouncing the jail sentence on July 4, slammed gun culture, saying “we need neither a Singham nor a Pushpa in a state governed by the rule of law”.
The Delhi High Court has suspended the four-year sentence awarded to Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Raju Kumar Singh in connection with the death of a woman during celebratory firing at his farmhouse in south Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri on New Year’s Eve in 2018.
A bench of justice Manoj Jain passed the order on Monday, observing that there was no likelihood of his appeal against the trial court’s conviction and sentence being heard in the near future. The court directed that the suspension of sentence would be subject to Singh furnishing a personal bond and a surety bond of ₹25,000 each, to the satisfaction of the trial court.
“Keeping in mind, the overall facts of the case and the fact that there is no likelihood of appeal getting finally heard in near future, the sentence of the appellant, is, hereby suspended on his furnishing personal bond and surety bond in a sum of Rs. 25,000/- each with one surety of like amount, subject to the satisfaction of learned Trial Court/Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Judicial Magistrate First Class with the following conditions:- (a) Surety would be local. (b) The appellant /accused shall provide his mobile number to the investigating officer and shall keep the same operational all the time, till the disposal of the appeal,” the court said in its order on Singh’s appeal against the trial court’s verdict.
Singh, a four-time MLA, represents Sahebganj assembly segment in the Bihar assembly.
On June 6, special judge Vishal Gogne convicted Singh under Section 304 part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder with knowledge) of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Arms Act relating to contravention of licence conditions.
The judge, while pronouncing the jail sentence on July 4, slammed gun culture, saying “we need neither a Singham nor a Pushpa in a state governed by the rule of law”.
The provision provides for a maximum imprisonment of ten years or fine, or both.
The judge said that a punishment of four years and the time it makes available to the convict for reflection and reform should, in the estimation of the court, serve as a sentence proportional to the offence and of potent deterrent value against similar acts of reckless firing by politicians and others alike in social functions.
The court also directed Singh to pay ₹25 lakh as compensation to the family of the victim, 45-year-old Archana Gupta.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, along with advocate Samarth Luthra, appearing for Singh, argued that the evidence did not conclusively implicate the MLA. They submitted that no witness had specifically attributed the fatal shot to Singh, while the prosecution itself admitted that celebratory firing had also been carried out by a security guard using a rifle. They further contended that the forensic opinion was inconclusive as it did not establish whether the projectile recovered from the deceased’s body had been fired from Singh’s pistol or the guard’s rifle.
The counsel also argued that although three prosecution witnesses supported the case, none specifically incriminated Singh, while four key public witnesses had turned hostile. He submitted that there was no likelihood for the appeal to be heard in future since it was of 2026 and undertook to deposit the compensation amount with the court registry, with liberty to the victim’s family to withdraw it irrespective of the outcome of the appeal.
The Delhi police was represented by additional public prosecutor Sunil Kumar Gautam and the victim’s family was represented by senior advocate Manish Sharam.
