Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday allowed a plea of Vikas Yadav, convicted in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case, to be released from prison on furlough. Yadav is serving a 25-year jail term without remission.A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Vipul M Pancholi noted that Yadav has undergone 23 years of incarceration and granted him furlough till March 7. “Furlough is now sought on the ground that he wishes to spend time during Holi. Without going into the merits, we permit the petitioner to be released on furlough,” the bench said.The SC rejected the objections raised by the complainant’s counsel against grant of furlough, saying, “You want to hang him? Is it?” “What is the point of hearing you in this matter? After 23 years, you don’t want to let things go. We need to let things go,” the bench said.Justice Sundresh orally remarked that grant of such relief can sometimes help in the reformation of the convict. HC had rejected his plea citing ‘grave offences’On Feb 11, Delhi HC had turned down Yadav’s plea seeking to be released from the prison on furlough for 21 days. Dismissing his petition, HC had said Yadav was convicted for committing “grave offences” and was “statutorily ineligible” for the relief of furlough under Delhi Prison Rules, 2018.Yadav had challenged the jail authorities’ Oct 29, 2025, order rejecting his furlough application. The court said there was no arbitrariness, illegality or violation of constitutional rights in the decision of the jail authorities. On Oct 3, 2016, SC had awarded a 25-year jail term to Vikas Yadav and his cousin Vishal for kidnapping Katara, a business executive, from a marriage party on the intervening night of Feb 16 and 17, 2002, and killing him over his alleged relationship with Yadav’s sister. Co-convict Sukhdev Yadav was given a 20-year jail term.
