Katara murder: SC raps UP, Delhi govt over delay in forming medical board for Vikas Yadav's mother

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed surprise that despite its April 2 order, it took 10 days to constitute a a medical board to examine the condition of his mother who was admitted to the Yashoda Hospital in Ghaziabad.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, in connection with the delay in constituting a medical board to examine the condition of the mother of Vikas Yadav, who is serving a 25-year jail term in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said that the state has to be fair, as the court was dealing with a plea by Yadav seeking interim bail to attend to his ailing mother.

During the hearing, the bench said that despite its April 2 order, the concerned authority took 10 days to constitute a medical board to examine the condition of Yadav’s mother. She was admitted to the Yashoda Hospital in Ghaziabad.

"You took 10 days to constitute a medical board. There needs to be some explanation... The state may have something against the petitioner, but the state has to be fair," the bench said.

The court pointed out that by the time the medical board visited, Yadav's mother was discharged from the hospital.

A counsel, representing Yadav, contended before the bench that his client’s mother was admitted to the hospital again on Monday, and his mother's condition had deteriorated in February, as he placed on record her medical documents. The bench directed that a fresh medical board be constituted by the medical superintendent of AIIMS, and assessment be done immediately, and a report be submitted.

Yadav, in his interim bail plea, said his mother was critically ill and hospitalised in the ICU.

The court on October 3, 2016 had awarded Yadav, who is the son of Uttar Pradesh politician D P Yadav, a 25-year jail term without any benefit of remission. He, along with his cousin Vishal and henchman Sukhdev Pehalwan, was convicted for killing Nitish Katara, a young MBA, over an affair with his sister.