NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC on Wednesday denied a plea by Vikas Yadav, who is serving a 25-year jail term without remission for the murder of business executive Nitish Katara in 2002, for his release from prison on a three-week furlough.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja passed the order while dismissing Yadav’s appeal against jail authorities’ October 29 order rejecting his furlough application.
The judge further observed that furlough was “neither an absolute right nor a matter of course” but a conditional and discretionary relief governed strictly by the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018.
The judge added, “The petitioner admittedly cannot earn such remissions till his stipulated 25 years of actual imprisonment is undergone and, therefore, fails to satisfy the threshold eligibility under the applicable rule framework.”
It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had awarded a 25-year jail term without the benefit of remission to Vikas and Vishal for their role in the killing in October 2016. Another convict, Sukhdev, was given a 20-year jail term.
Vikas, son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, and his cousin Vishal were reportedly against Katara’s alleged affair with the former’s sister, Bharti Yadav, as they belonged to different castes.
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