LUCKNOW, June 3 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court recently acquitted a man, who had been serving a life sentence for allegedly murdering his wife and son in 2002, citing lack of "mens rea (criminal intention)" due to mental illness. "Let the accused-appellant, Rajesh @ Sajesh Tewari, be released from jail forthwith, if he is not wanted in any other case", the court ordered. The judgment was passed by a division bench of Justice Sangeeta Chandra and Justice Shree Prakash Singh on May 29 on an appeal filed by the convict Rajesh of Bahraich district. The court set aside the 2005 conviction judgment delivered by the additional sessions judge, Bahraich, in which Rajesh alias Sajesh Tewari was found guilty of killing his wife Kamlesh and their son Durgesh with a sharp-edged weapon while they were sleeping. The high court held that the trial court had failed to consider vital evidence relating to Tewari's mental health, which included documented psychiatric treatment and eyewitness accounts of his disturbed behaviour. "The overall examination of the evidences including the statements of the prosecution witnesses, is enough to establish that the appellant was suffering with certain impaired mental condition and thus, the instant matter obviously, falls in a category of general exception (under Section 84 IPC)," the court observed. As per section 84 of the Indian Penal Code, 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. A double murder occurred during the intervening night of August 31-September 1, 2002. The FIR was lodged by Tewari's father Prahlad Kumar Tewari in Fakharpur police station, stating that his son had been mentally unwell for over a year and was undergoing psychiatric treatment. He had initially informed police that his son had committed the crime, but later turned hostile in court. "The learned trial court has erred in convicting and sentencing the appellant," the bench observed. MANOJ KUMAR SINGH...