The Supreme Court on Friday cut short an 18-year jail sentence given to a UP man for power theft highlighting the importance of "personal liberty". The bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked "What for are we here if we do not listen to our conscience?"
Iqram, the man in jail and petitioner, had already served three years after a trial court sentenced him to 18 years jail term in nine cases, mostly under the Electricity Act.
The SC granted relief to Iqram, who was convicted in nine criminal matters by a trial court in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur and awarded two-year jail terms, besides a fine, in each case.
The convict has been in jail for almost three years now and it has been wrongly construed by the jail authorities that his sentence will run successively, instead of concurrently, and as a result, his jail term would become 18 years.
The apex court set aside the high court order, refusing to grant relief to the convict, and made clear that the sentences would run concurrently.
It said the Allahabad High Court could have stepped in to set right the "miscarriage of justice".
"No case is small for the Supreme Court. If we do not act in matters of personal liberty and grant relief, then what are we doing here?" asked the bench, which also comprised Justice P S Narasimha, reported PTI.
"We will be acting in breach of Article 136 (special powers to grant relief under the Constitution) if we do not act in the matter of personal liberty," the bench said.
The facts of the case provide another instance, a "glaring one", indicating a justification for the top court to exercise its jurisdiction as a protector of the fundamental right to life and personal liberty inherent in every citizen, it added.
"If the court was not to do so, the liberty of a citizen would be abrogated. In seemingly small, routine matters involving grievances of citizens, the issues of moment in jurisprudential and constitutional matters emerge from the intervention of this court," the bench said.
-With PTI inputs
