The Supreme Court on Friday awarded jail term of 14 years to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Prabhunath Singh in a double murder case that took place on the day of polling for Assembly elections at Chapra in Saran district of Bihar in March 1995.
The Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Vikram Nath further directed the three-term JD(U) and one-time RJD MP from Maharajganj in north Bihar to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the two deceased and Rs five lakh to an injured victim in the case.
Noting that the Bihar government should also compensate the victims, the Apex Court directed the State to pay the same amount of compensation as Singh to the families of the two deceased and the injured victim.
It further convicted and sentenced the former Bihar MLA to seven-years imprisonment for the offence of attempt to murder under Section 307 IPC.
The Apex Court had last month convicted Singh in the double murder case, reversing his acquittal granted by the trial court and upheld by the Patna High Court.
The former MLA, who was contesting elections as a candidate of Bihar People’s Party (BPP) then, was accused of murdering Daroga Rai and Rajendra Rai near a polling booth in Chhapra in March 1995 for not voting as per his suggestion. He was also accused of attempting to kill a woman on the same date.
At the outset, the Apex Court pondered over awarding ‘life or death sentence, observing that these were only two options with them.
Senior Advocate R. Basant, representing the respondent, argued that in the case of Bachhan Singh, it was stated that the graver option of sentence was chosen when the lesser option was unquestionably foreclosed.
However, the Apex Court asked the Senior Counsel if he seriously thought that the Bench was considering the death penalty.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi contended that with two acquittals, the presumption of innocence was enhanced. He pointed out that the review was pending on the matter.
(Case title: Harendra Rai vs State of Bihar)