Calcutta, Aug. 18: Five convicts who were given life sentence by a Balurghat court in South Dinajpur and were on bail for the past 20 years were today asked by the high court to return to jail.

The five were aged between 40 and 45 when they were convicted in a twin murder case in 1987. All of them are above 60 now.

They had appealed before Calcutta High Court against the trial court’s order along with bail petitions. All were granted bail in 1988 by the high court. Today, after hearing the appeal after 20 years, the high court upheld the trial court’s judgment and directed the convicts to surrender before the Balurghat court.

According to the case diary, Deben Roy Mondal and his father Kalipada, residents of Laxminarayanpur village in the Tapan area of South Dinajpur, had a rivalry with some of their neighbours over the possession of 1.5 acres of vested land in the area.

In the morning of November 11, 1983, Vidyanath Roy and Umapada Roy of the village had a quarrel with the Mondals over the land. In the evening when Deben was returning from the market, Vidyanath, Umapada and three others attacked him with axe, arrow and other weapons. When Kalipada and his family members heard the news of the attack they rushed to the spot to rescue Deben. But, Vidyanath and others hacked both Kalipada and Deben to death.

The next day, police arrested all five accused and their trial started before the additional session judge of Balurghat court. On May 30, 1987, the additional session judge convicted all the accused of their involvement in the crime and gave them life imprisonment.

In July the same year, the convicts moved an appeal before the high court and challenged the trial court’s verdict. They also applied for bail.

In 1988, the high court granted them bail while their appeals were kept pending for hearing.

The said appeal came up for hearing before the high court in March this year before the division bench of Justices Asim Banerjee and Tapas Kumar Giri. Today, the division bench, in its verdict said: “The findings made by the trial court in the case were just and proper. So, we are upholding the trial court’s judgement and directing the five convicts to surrender before the trial court with immediate effect to face the sentence.”