Holding that premature release of convicts is not a matter of right and that life sentence means for the entire life, Madras high court has said that any premature release can be done only following due process of law which is the prerogative of the executive.
A division bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and G Jayachandran made the observations while disposing of a petition filed by K Mariammal seeking premature release of her husband K Moorthy, a life convict in a murder case jailed for17 years. She stated that her husband was entitled to premature release according to the 2018 GO as the government had taken a policy decision to release prisoners based on their good conduct in connection with the birth centenary of former chief minister M G Ramachandran.
However, the state submitted that Moorthy was found guilty of a major offence under Section 302 IPC and under sections of Explosives Substances Act, which is a central Act. The GO enables life convicts, who have completed ten years of actual imprisonment as of 2018, to seek premature release provided they exhibit satisfactory behaviour and are not convicted and sentenced for offence punishable under central Acts.
The state further submitted that the petitioner’s husband was twice imposed punishment of forfeiture of prison privilege of interview for three months for possessing cellphone inside the prison illegally. The judges observed that they don’t find any infirmity or illegality in the decision taken by the state government for not considering the release of the petitioner’s husband.
The judges took note of the state government’s submission that the prison authorities have initiated the process of constituting an advisory board to consider the case of life convicts who have completed 14 years of sentence as of 2018. Due to Covid-19 pandemic situation, the cases could not be taken up for consideration by the advisory board. The judges asked the authorities to expedite the said process and communicate the decision to the petitioner as well as the life convict at the earliest.
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