India, April 23 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the April 2 Chhattisgarh high court order convicting former lawmaker Amit Jogi in the 2003 murder of a political opponent, questioning how he could be sentenced without being heard. The stay came as Amit Jogi, son of the late former chief minister Ajit Jogi, was supposed to surrender on Thursday as per the high court's order sentencing him to life imprisonment.

"How can a sentence be passed without hearing the accused?" asked a bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi. "The effect and operation of the judgment shall remain stayed."

Amit Jogi challenged the high court's reversal of a trial court's acquittal order in 2007, arguing it was done without hearing hi...