Telangana High Court had set aside the State government’s decision rejecting the representation of a life convict S. K. Zakaria, who was in jail for over 24 years, for release on mercy grounds.
Justice Lalitha Kanneganti of the HC, who heard the writ petition filed by the life convict’s family, directed the State government to consider Zakaria’s case in the light of Supreme Court verdicts of similar nature. Closing the writ petition, the judge said the government should take a call on the life convict’s representation within three weeks.
In 1997, Zakaria was arrested on charge of murdering M. A. Khadeer, deputy secretary of the then Andhra Pradesh State Waqf Board. Six years later, the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Hyderabad sentenced Zakaria to undergo life imprisonment holding him guilty in the homicide case.
