SC Slams UP, Delhi Over Delay in Forming Medical Board for Vikas Yadav’s Mother
Court orders AIIMS to assess health of Katara case convict’s ailing mother
The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi governments for the inordinate delay in forming a medical board to assess the health of Vikas Yadav’s mother, as he seeks interim bail in the Nitish Katara murder case. Yadav, who is serving a 25-year sentence without remission in the 2002 murder of business executive Nitish Katara, had moved the apex court seeking temporary bail to attend to his critically ill mother. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed dismay that it took 10 days to constitute the board, despite the court’s order on April 2.
"You took 10 days to constitute a medical board. There needs to be some explanation," the bench said, adding, "The State may have something against the petitioner, but the State has to be fair." By the time the board examined the case, the mother had been discharged from Yashoda Hospital in Ghaziabad. However, Yadav’s counsel informed the court she was re-admitted on Monday and remained in the ICU, refusing surgery.
The court has now directed the medical superintendent of AIIMS to form a fresh board for immediate assessment and submit a report. Yadav, son of UP politician D P Yadav, was convicted alongside cousin Vishal Yadav and co-accused Sukhdev Pehalwan for Katara’s abduction and murder—allegedly due to Katara’s relationship with Vikas’s sister, Bharti Yadav.
The Delhi High Court had earlier affirmed the life terms for the Yadav cousins, setting a 30-year minimum sentence, and gave Pehalwan 25 years without remission. Yadav’s request for sentence remission was rejected last year due to unsatisfactory prison conduct.