Supreme Court Declines to Interfere with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Sentence Suspension in Deoghar Fodder Scam, Seeks Early Appeal Hearing

July 14, 2026 : The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court’s order suspending the sentence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Deoghar treasury fodder scam case. While dismissing the State of Jharkhand’s challenge, the Court requested the High Court to dispose of Yadav’s pending criminal appeal within six months.

A Bench comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice P.B. Varale dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the State against the Jharkhand High Court’s order dated July 12, 2019, which had granted suspension of Yadav’s sentence during the pendency of his appeal.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court observed that nearly seven years had elapsed since the appeal was filed in 2018. Considering the prolonged pendency of the matter, the Bench found no reason to interfere with the High Court’s interim order and instead emphasized the need for an expeditious final hearing of the appeal.

Appearing for the State of Jharkhand, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju argued that the High Court had erred in suspending Yadav’s sentence on the assumption that he had completed half of his imprisonment. Referring to Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, he contended that sentences awarded in different fodder scam cases could not automatically be treated as running concurrently for calculating the period of imprisonment. According to the State, the High Court had adopted an incorrect legal standard while granting relief.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Lalu Prasad Yadav, opposed the State’s plea. He argued that the issue of whether multiple sentences should run concurrently or consecutively is a matter to be determined at the stage of final adjudication and not while considering an application for suspension of sentence. He further submitted that the High Court had consistently granted similar relief to other convicts who had completed half of their sentence.

Taking note of the fact that Yadav’s criminal appeal has remained pending since 2018, the Supreme Court declined to disturb the High Court’s order suspending his sentence. Instead, it requested the Jharkhand High Court to hear and decide the appeal within six months.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a CBI court in the Deoghar treasury fodder scam case and sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. In 2019, the Jharkhand High Court suspended his sentence after recording that he had completed more than half of the awarded sentence and that similarly placed co-convicts had already received the same benefit.