NEW DELHI On the very day (Friday, May 29) Supreme Court laid down mandatory guidelines for high courts to pronounce judgments within three months of reserving them, an SC bench pronounced its verdict in a 42-year-old double murder case from Delhi after keeping it reserved for 15 months.Two bodies were discovered within a span of three days in July 1984 at Civil Lines and Alipur, identified as the driver and helper of a truck. Suspects were arrested by Delhi Police within a fortnight of discovery of the bodies and were accused of murdering the driver and helper to steal their truck.Trials in the two cases lodged at police stations in Civil Lines and Alipur were clubbed together only in 2008, and the sessions court convicted the accused of murder and awarded them life imprisonment in 2009. Their appeals were dismissed by the Delhi high court in 2013. One of the convicts, Gopi Chand, aka Pappu, appealed against the conviction and life term before SC in 2013.A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra heard the final arguments in the case on February 27 last year and reserved its verdict.The judgment remained pending with Justice Misra for 15 months.Delivering a judgment on Friday after keeping it reserved for 15 months, Justice Manoj Misra said prosecution has succeeded in establishing that five persons had conspired to steal the truck by first hiring it and then murdering the driver and the helper. “We therefore uphold the conviction of the appellant for the offences for which he has been convicted by the trial court and the HC,” the bench said.However, it commuted the life sentence to 18 years of jail term already served by the convict.On April 12, TOI had reported how Justice Misra had delivered verdicts in two cases after reserving the judgment for 17 and 11 months.In another case, he delivered a verdict in Feb this year after keeping it reserved for 14 months.On Friday, the CJI Surya Kant-led bench, while fixing a timeline for expeditious pronouncement of reserved verdicts by HCs, had said, “The right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is not confined to the expeditious conduct of a trial.”End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosNTA To Hold Re-Exam For CUET-UG 2026 Candidates Affected By Tech GlitchMamata Banerjee Meets Hospitalised Abhishek Banerjee After Sonarpur AttackBrahMos Export Push Gains Pace With Vietnam Deal Signed, Indonesia Next In Line | WatchDK Shivakumar Meets Karnataka Governor, To Take CM Oath On June 3Delhi Police Foils Major Attack Plot, Arrests 9 Linked To ISI-Dawood Ibrahim Terror Network‘Not pointing fingers…’: Pete Hegseth’s witty reply to Pak journo over India’s AGNI-6 ICBM | WatchDoval’s Moscow Mission: India-Russia Defence, Energy & Arctic Cooperation In Focus | WatchTMC Leader Abhishek Banerjee Asked To Appear Before CID Amid Fresh Political Storm’Pakistan Navy Remained Confined To Its Ports’: Rajnath Singh Hails Navy’s Role During Op SindoorIndia’s Gold Demand Plunges 70% After Import Duty Rises To 15%123PhotostoriesLove quote of the day by Aristotle: “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies”From Sarah Jessica Parker to Jon Bon Jovi, here are all of the celebrities who flaunt their gray hair like a crownParkinson’s before 50? Doctor explains the early warning signs most people ignore’Spider-Noir’ to ‘Deli Boys’: Latest Hollywood series and films to watch over the weekendDon’t throw away your potato peels: 5 smart ways to repurpose themYou’re walking, not running, so why are you breathless? Doctor explains what your body may be trying to tell youOne workout a week can help you lose weight, new study findsAsthma is no longer just about dust and pollution: Doctor warns stress, poor sleep and modern lifestyles are triggering more attacks5 lessons of perfect marriage we all need to learn from Preity Zinta and Gene GoodenoughWhy thousands of Indian children with Autism are diagnosed late: Doctors explain what early intervention can change123Hot PicksSimone BilesVinesh PhogatMonsoon ForecastHenry Nowak murderFrancisco CerundoloDonald TrumpGold price predictionTop TrendingGhaziabad Student MurderD GukeshVaibhav sooryavanshi IPL auctionPunjab Local Body Election ResultCockroach Janta PartySupreme CourtNEET UG 2026 fee refundBSEB Bihar Sakashmta Pariksha Admit CardNTANEET Paper Leak
NEW DELHI On the very day (Friday, May 29) Supreme Court laid down mandatory guidelines for high courts to pronounce judgments within three months of reserving them, an SC bench pronounced its verdict in a 42-year-old double murder case from Delhi after keeping it reserved for 15 months.Two bodies were discovered within a span of three days in July 1984 at Civil Lines and Alipur, identified as the driver and helper of a truck. Suspects were arrested by Delhi Police within a fortnight of discovery of the bodies and were accused of murdering the driver and helper to steal their truck.Trials in the two cases lodged at police stations in Civil Lines and Alipur were clubbed together only in 2008, and the sessions court convicted the accused of murder and awarded them life imprisonment in 2009. Their appeals were dismissed by the Delhi high court in 2013. One of the convicts, Gopi Chand, aka Pappu, appealed against the conviction and life term before SC in 2013.A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra heard the final arguments in the case on February 27 last year and reserved its verdict.The judgment remained pending with Justice Misra for 15 months.Delivering a judgment on Friday after keeping it reserved for 15 months, Justice Manoj Misra said prosecution has succeeded in establishing that five persons had conspired to steal the truck by first hiring it and then murdering the driver and the helper. “We therefore uphold the conviction of the appellant for the offences for which he has been convicted by the trial court and the HC,” the bench said.However, it commuted the life sentence to 18 years of jail term already served by the convict.On April 12, TOI had reported how Justice Misra had delivered verdicts in two cases after reserving the judgment for 17 and 11 months.In another case, he delivered a verdict in Feb this year after keeping it reserved for 14 months.On Friday, the CJI Surya Kant-led bench, while fixing a timeline for expeditious pronouncement of reserved verdicts by HCs, had said, “The right to life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is not confined to the expeditious conduct of a trial.”
