“In jail, you have to sit and not walk” : The Supreme Court Denies Paralysed Student’s Plea to delay imprisonment

In the case of Mohammad Umeedullah Khan v. State of Telangana, the Supreme Court did not find favor with a prisoner’s request to prolong the period during which he was required to turn himself in to a trial court in order to be imprisoned, citing his inability to walk as the justification.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, who has appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, attorney BF Lzafeer Ahmad said that the petitioner is unable to walk properly.

His argument was based on medical records that demonstrated the petitioner’s paralysis in his legs.

The vacation bench, comprised of Justices Augustine George Masih and PV Sanjay Kumar, noted, however, that such a circumstance does not justify evasion of imprisonment.
Justice Kumar, irritated, said verbally that in prison, one must sit rather than walk.

 

The Court observed,  “You are saying that you are unable to walk and that is why you want extension. How can this be the reason? In jail, you have to sit and not walk,” .

Eventually, the Bench said unequivocally that it was not inclined to overturn an order dated May 21 that had given the petitioner two weeks to turn himself up.

The Court further said ,“Once this court had said that you have to surrender in two weeks, then you have to surrender. If you cannot walk, you can be carried to jail. This is no reason to seek extension of time to surrender. You can be transported, there is no need to walk,” .

At the time of the occurrence, the petitioner, a B.Tech student, had been arrested in 2007 for allegedly shooting a pistol at another college student during an argument.

He was found guilty in 2013 by a trial court of violating the Indian Penal Code’s Section 307 (attempt to murder) as well as Sections 25 (1-A) and 27 of the Arms Act 1959.

In addition to ordering him to pay a fine, the trial court sentenced him to 10 years in jail.

The conviction from the trial court was contested before the Supreme Court, and on April 30 of 2024, the Telangana High Court affirmed the decision.

The Supreme Court has not yet made a decision on this appeal.

On May 21, however, the petitioner’s attorney gave a bench consisting of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal the assurance that the petitioner will be in court for trial within a week. After taking note of this initiative, the Court scheduled a hearing for July 2024.

The prisoner subsequently filed a request for an extension of the deadline for surrender, but it was denied on June 3, 2024.

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