Delhi HC rejects parole for Ajay Chautala for medical treatment

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea by INLD leader Ajay Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in the teachers’ recruitment scam case, seeking 12 weeks’ parole for medical treatment.

Justice Pratibha Rani declined the plea of Ajay whose appeal against the High Court verdict convicting him and his father, Haryana’s former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, and sentencing them to 10 years in jail was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 3 August last year.

The Supreme Court which upheld their conviction, however, had said the convicts may move the High Court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health grounds.

Advocate Amit Sahni, appearing for Ajay, had sought 12 weeks’ parole for enabling the convict “to get treatment and to maintain social ties”.

The High Court had on 5 March, 2015, upheld the 10 year jail term awarded to Chautalas and three others, saying, “the overwhelming evidence showed the shocking and spine-chilling state of affairs in the country.”

The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were convicted on 16 January, 2013 by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.

Besides Chautalas and two IAS officers, the High Court had also awarded 10-year prison term to Sher Singh Badshami, then an MLA and political adviser to Chautala senior.

The High Court, however, had modified the trial court’s order on the quantum of sentence and awarded two-year jail term to 50 other convicts.

All the 55 convicts were sentenced under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 418 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of IPC and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Initially, there were 62 accused in the case. While two had died before filing of the charge sheet, four passed away during the trial of the case and one was discharged by the trial court.