Murder case pending for 33 years; MLA accused roams free

Awaiting justice for over 33 years for his father’s murder, an aggrieved son has approached the Supreme Court to get the accused tried and punished.

Awaiting justice for over 33 years for his father’s murder, an aggrieved son has approached the Supreme Court to get the accused tried and punished.

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Pankaj Tripathi, a doctor from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, has sought the top court’s intervention for expeditious hearing against those who killed his father on May 25, 1980.

The case is presently pending in the Allahabad high court where the accused - MLA Vijay Kumar Misra and Jeet Narain Misra -have challenged the state police’s chargesheet against them and sought their discharge.

Interestingly, the HC judge heard the matter for over a year and reserved the verdict in August 2011. However, a year later it desired to hear the matter all over again. After few hearings the judge discharged the matter, forcing the parties to argue the case before another bench afresh. As a result the trial court proceedings have been stayed since 2010.

Acting on Tripathi's petition, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on May 11 issued notice to the Vijay Kumar Misra, Jeet Narain Misra and Uttar Pradesh govt.

According to Singh, the state police had initially not named Vijay and Jeet in their chargesheet. The two accused named were discharged by the trial court. In 1988 the police filed a supplementary report in which Vijay and Jeet were accused of the murder. The case’s file mysteriously went missing in 1995 and remained untraceable till 2008.

In May 2009, the HC directed day-to-day trial of the case. However, on an application filed by Vijay and Jeet, the HC stayed the trial in February 2010.