Man denied appeal in son’s killing case
The plea of a father, who had moved the Delhi high court challenging the lower court’s order of acquittal of his son’s murderer, was dismissed by Justice B.D. Ahmed, who held that only legal heir of a victim can file appeal in a criminal case.
The father, Chatter Singh, had pleaded before the court that his appeal against the acquittal be heard as the deceased was his son and that he had every right to bring the alleged killer of his son to justice. After going through various criminal laws, the court, said that although Mr Singh’s plea appears to be reasonable, the law does not allow it to entertain the appeal.
“This, very emotive argument, appears to be reasonable and also appeals to our sensibilities but, our job as judges is to interpret the statute and, in doing so, to find out the intention of the legislature,” Justice Ahmed said.
The court said the father in this present petition is not a legal heir as the victim’s wife and son are alive.
“The use of the expression legal heir as distinct from heir is deliberate. And, therefore, the expression legal heir would have to be given its meaning in law of referring to a person who is entitled to the property of the victim under the applicable law of inheritance. We have seen that the appellant is not such a person. As such, he cannot be regarded as a legal heir of the victim,” the court said.
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