The Delhi High Court on Thursday extended the parole granted to Siddharth Vashishtha alias Manu Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment in the Jessica Lal murder case, till August 2 to enable him prepare and submit his thesis for his Master’s degree examination in human rights.
Manu was earlier granted a fortnight-long parole by a Vacation Bench of the High Court on June 17. He is pursuing post-graduation from the Indian Institute of Human Rights. The 36-year-old was awarded life imprisonment in 2006 for shooting dead model Jessica Lal at Tamarind Court restaurant at Mehrauli here on April 30, 1999.
The case for extension of the parole period came up before Justice S. Muralidhar on Thursday after its expiry. Manu’s counsel contended that he had always surrendered on time whenever he was released on interim bail in the past. Among the conditions imposed for parole, Manu has been asked not to leave the National Capital Region and not to be in the vicinity of the residence of the victim or her family members.
