45 years in jail for three-year-penalty crime

After almost half a decade in a mental hospital, Dayal has virtually lost his memory. Ask him about his life at the Chikitsalaya and the now 70-year-old just about manages to pronounce a few words: ‘‘Lakho saal se (since lakhs of years).’’ Dr B K Bhargava, Director of Medical and Health Services, Uttar Pradesh, says Dayal suffers from dementia.

One finds Dayal dressed in this usual half pants and shirt at the Criminal Barracks of the Chikitsalaya. ‘‘He rarely talks to anyone. But he wakes up in the morning after hearing the bells of temples near the hospital,’’ said an employee of the hospital. The septuagenarian cannot walk without the support but does some work, especially in the kitchen. A K Singh, a psychiatric at the hospital, said, ‘‘He understands everything but fails to vocalise his thoughts.’’

Bhargava is confounded by why his predecessors did not take up Dayal’s case. Going by hospital records, Dayal was a ‘‘smart and healthy’’ man in the 1962 when he was brought to the hospital. But he had his eccentric moments. ‘‘He passes urine and stool in the cell of the jail. He is violent. He of late tries to act like a modern man after wearing a wrist watch,’’ a source quoted the old records as saying of Dayal’s ‘‘insanity’’.

A source added that the trial magistrate had mentioned the failure of Shankar to furnish his bail bonds. ‘‘The accused cannot be released on bail because he has no defence to plead his case,’’ the source quoted from old documents.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from Unnao say Dayal was married to a woman called Chandrawati, who was pregnant at the time of Shankar’s arrest. After the birth of a son, she and other family members tried to trace the whereabout of Dayal. Unable to locate him, they later considered him dead and got Chandrawati married to Dayal’s younger brother Barjore. Barjore died about 15 years ago. ‘‘Chnadrawati has been told about Dayal being alive and she is likely to come to Varanasi to meet him,’’ a hospital source disclosed.

Bhargava said information has been given to Unnao District Jail. ‘‘We are waiting for them to take Shankar back at the earliest possible,’’ he said. But earliest would still mean 45 years too late.

Bail for 70-year-old in prison since ’68

NEW DELHI: Ordeal of a septuagenarian languishing in Faizabad jail for 38 years without trial is likely to end. The SC today granted him bail and directed authorities to place before the court available documents related to the case. Jagjivan Ram Yadav has been in jail since 1968 on charge of killing his neighbour’s wife. ‘‘We direct that he be released on bail forthwith on his furnishing a personal bond,’’ a Bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice C K Thakker and Justice R V Raveendran ordered. The Bench also issued notices to the UP government and Chief Medical Superintendent, mental asylum, Varanasi, directing them to place on record the relevant material concerned the case since December 7, 1968. said if no record was available, the authorities concerned should supply the reasons for non-availability of such materials. —PTI