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A division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande, in its December 12 order, suspended the life sentence imposed on the man and granted him bail pending hearing of his appeal against conviction.
The convict, who was well educated, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was on psychotropic medication, the court noted.
“The mental status examination clearly reflects that he continues to mutter to himself and suffers from mood swings and there is specific reference to his speech, sometimes being coherent and sometimes irrelevant and his judgment being impaired,” the HC said.
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“It affects how we think, feel, react and act as we cope with life and encompasses psychological and social well-being,” the court said.
“In a country like India, when people still shy away from openly discussing the mental illness and are not open about disclosing it, as it carries a significant social stigma, leading to an apprehension of social exclusion or discrimination, it can be too much to assume that a person, who has killed his father and categorically admitted that he is responsible for the act, to be identified suffering from any sort of mental illness,” the HC said.
The bench had earlier directed that the convict, lodged at the Yerwada prison in Pune, be evaluated by a psychologist.
The psychologist’s report stated the convict was suffering from schizophrenia.
The court noted the convict was a highly educated person and started getting medical treatment for his mental illness in 2010.
It appears his treatment was either discontinued or it was again resumed only when he suffered from the attacks and this ultimately resulted into the incident, when he killed his own father, the court said.
The HC bench said prima facie it was convinced that the trial court had failed to consider the accused’s mental illness.
The bench, while granting him bail, sought an affidavit from his sister assuring the court that he would continue to take treatment for his mental illness so that he does not pose danger to anyone else and shall be admitted to a mental health care institution if required.
The man was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Pune in 2015 for killing his father.
His advocate Satyavrat Joshi told the HC that the accused’s mental condition was not taken into consideration by the trial court.
Despite the plea of insanity taken by the accused before the trial court, the judge recorded that the accused was merely suffering from depression and had recovered, Joshi argued.
He said the accused could not avail the benefit under section 84 of the Indian Penal Code, which says nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong or contrary to law.