Supreme Court sets aside Allahabad High Court probation order in 2003 Bahraich attack case, orders convicts to surrender

The Supreme Court has set aside an Allahabad High Court order that released two men convicted for a brutal 2003 knife-and-gun attack in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, on probation under Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran held that the benefit of probation is not automatic — the nature of the offence and the character of the offender are the reigning factors — and described the release, without a single day of imprisonment despite five-year trial-court sentences, as misplaced sympathy. The Court directed the convicts to surrender within two weeks, failing which the Additional Sessions Court, Bahraich, will take immediate proceedings to apprehend them. Sources: The New Indian Express, Rediff, The Times of India. (New Indian Express, Rediff, Times of India)

• The Supreme Court has set aside an Allahabad High Court order that released two men convicted for a brutal 2003 knife-and-gun attack in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, on probation under Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders
• A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran held that the benefit of probation is not automatic — the nature of the offence and the character of the offender are the reigning factors — and described the releas
• The Court directed the convicts to surrender within two weeks, failing which the Additional Sessions Court, Bahraich, will take immediate proceedings to apprehend them.