A single judge bench of the Delhi High Court on 16 August granted 90-day parole to serial killer Chandrakant Jha who is serving a life term after he was found guilty in three murder cases, as reported by LawBeat. He was granted parole by Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar who noted that the former had served more than 15 years behind bars and had not been released in the previous three years despite having “satisfactory behaviour” while inside the jail.
The court stated, “In the instant case, the petitioner has undergone more than 15 years and 6 months in judicial custody and he has not been released in the last 3 years. The conduct of the petitioner is satisfactory, he has also been released on parole on five occasions and furlough on seven occasions and there is no allegation that the petitioner had misused his liberty, therefore, this Court considers it apposite to allow the present petition.”
The convict received 90 days of parole from the judge after submitting a personal bond for Rs. 25,000 and two sureties for the same amount that was acceptable to the pertinent jail superintendent. The court ordered, “The petitioner shall provide his mobile phone number to the concerned Jail Superintendent and SHO (Station House Officer) concerned at the time of release, which shall be kept in working condition at all times.”
He is not allowed to leave the city without permission and “shall reside at the given address as per prison records.” He is also directed to appear at the local police station every third day. The judgment added, “However, he shall not be kept waiting for longer than an hour for this purpose.” He is further told to “positively surrender before the concerned Jail Superintendent on the expiry of the period of 90 days from the date of his release.”
The defence attorney for him asked for parole on the grounds that since he has four daughters and needs to select a suitable husband for the oldest. It is his responsibility as her father to do so and arrange for the girl’s engagement because his wife won’t be able to manage everything alone. There are no other male family members other than him, according to the submission.
She also claimed, “Lastly, it has been pointed out by the learned counsel for the petitioner that he has not been released in the last 3 years and thus, it has become extremely essential for him to be released to re-establish social ties with his family.”
The State, on the other hand, argued that according to the status report, Chandrakant Jha had a criminal history and had been proven culpable of three murders. It additionally stated that his overall behaviour was unacceptable and that if he was awarded parole, it was possible that he would violate it.
Who is Chandrakant Jha
Chandrakant Jha who was born in Ghosai in the Madhepura district of Bihar in 1967 is a serial killer who befriended, then killed and dismembered 18 victims in west Delhi between 1998 and 2007. He is infamously known as ‘The Butcher of Delhi.’ He worked as a hawker in Delhi’s weekly bazaars.
His first killing took place in 1998 for which he was arrested and held in jail until 2002, when he was eventually released due to lack of evidence. He embarked upon a spate of killings after his release. Shekar and Umesh were first, followed by Guddu in 2005, Amit in 2006 and then Upender and Dalip in 2007.
He would make friends with migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and assist them in finding part-time work. Later, trivial arguments over things like theft, lying, or consuming non-vegetarian food would push him to strangle them to death. He took pleasure in taunting the police by leaving dismembered body parts around the city and outside the Tihar Jail with notes, daring the police to catch him.
He was found guilty on three counts of murder and received two death sentences and life imprisonment until death in February 2013. His death sentence was mitigated by the high court on 27 January 2016, to imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” without remission. He was ordered to be “emphatically and adequately punished” by the court for his horrific actions.
Notably, in February 2013, he was handed over a life sentence until death in a case concerning the murder of Dilip, whose headless body was discovered in 2007 and was dumped close to Tihar Jail.
The same trial judge that had condemned him to death in the first murder case ruled that his crime qualified as one of the “rarest of rare cases” since the savagery of what he had done demonstrated his inability to change. He obtained a death sentence from the trial court for the murder of Upender in 2007 and disposing of his headless body close to Tihar Jail.
He married twice, abandoning his first wife within a year. He has four daughters with his second wife and mostly lived away from his family.
The Netflix series ‘Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi’ was based on Jha’s crimes.
