Siddharth Vashisht alias Manu Sharma, who is undergoing life imprisonment after having been convicted in the 1999 Jessica Lal murder case, was on Friday granted parole for 30 days by the Delhi High Court to enable him to appear in the post-graduation examination of the Indian Institute of Human Rights.
A Vacation Bench of Justice S. Muralidhar gave parole on Manu’s furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 with one surety for the like amount. Manu was asked not to leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi during the parole period.
Manu’s final year examination at the institute, recognised by the United Nations, will begin on January 1. The court said that since he was allowed to appear in the exams earlier as well, there was no reason to deny him the permission for the final year.
The court said the convict should keep away from the area around the residence of the deceased and her family members.
Manu, 37, son of former Union Minister Venod Sharma, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court in 2006 after reversing the trial court’s acquittal order. Manu had shot dead model Jessica Lal at the Tamarind Court restaurant in Mehrauli here in 1999.