Prayagraj: A man who spent 37 years in jail for a murder conviction resting on evidence that cleared his two co-accused walked free this week after Allahabad high court set aside the trial court’s 1989 judgment, saying it “suffers from infirmity”, reports Rajesh Kumar Pandey.In its Feb 18 order, the division bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Prashant Mishra-I directed that appellant Khunni Lal be released immediately, if not required in any other case. The verdict closes a chapter that began with a family land dispute in UP’s Farrukhabad district in 1987.The legal anomaly that led to the conviction being overturned was of three murder suspects being tried on identical evidence, culminating in two of them being acquitted while Khunni was sentenced to life.The bench noted that co-accused Bhagwan Din and Jagdish walked free from the same sessions court that put Khunni away despite the available evidence suggesting the same degree of culpability.The case has its roots in a boundary dispute. Khunni and the other two men were joint owners of a plot and a house along with complainant Ram Singh, who accused them of encroaching on his portion. Violence erupted on May 9, 1987, after the three men allegedly destroyed a portion of Ram Singh’s property.Khunni allegedly carried a knife, Bhagwan a pistol and Jagdish a spear. Ram Singh’s brother Mauji was nearby when the confrontation turned fatal, the evidence suggested.As Ram Singh grabbed Jagdish’s spear, the other two restrained Mauji while Khunni allegedly stabbed him to death. The accused fled, firing shots. The crime was reported the following day. The sessions court convicted only Khunni in May 1989.
