Kerala - Kochi   

Curbs on releasing life convicts

Staff Reporter

Kochi: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday restrained the committee appointed by the Government for the earlier release of prisoners from considering the cases in which the life convicts had not completed 14 years of imprisonment until further orders from the court.

The Bench comprising Justice J. B. Koshy and Justice K. Padmanabhan Nair, however, said that the order would not be applicable to very special cases.

The direction was issued when K.B. Sureshkumar, amicus curiae in the case relating to the indiscriminate granting of parole to prisoners, pointed out that despite the court directives, the committee was going ahead with granting of remission to life convicts who had not completed 14 years of imprisonment.

The Bench was of the view that the committee could not consider remission of sentence to life convicts who had not completed 14 years of imprisonment. The Supreme Court had made it clear in the Maru Ram case. In fact, the Government could grant remission in exceptional cases.

But that should be in very rare cases.

The grant of remission to life convicts was against the provision of the Constitution, Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, in an affidavit, the Principal Secretary (Home and Vigilance) K.K. Vijayakumar said that the Government had been granting parole under the provisions of the Kerala Prison Rules. Paroles were granted taking into consideration all aspects put forward by the prisoner. The Kerala Prison Rules would be published soon.

Directive to DGP

Justice K. Padmanabhan Nair has directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to call for the case diary relating to the seizure of explosives from the Kozhikode KSRTC bus depot and take a decision whether it was necessary to constitute a special investigation team under a senior officer to investigate the case.

The court issued the directive as it found the investigation conducted so far was unsatisfactory. The direction was given while dismissing a bail petition filed by Abdul Kareem of Malappuram, an accused in the case.

The court also came down heavily on the Thrissur Sessions Court that granted anticipatory bail to K.K. Sudheeshkumar, another accused.

The court said that it was very unfortunate that the Sessions Judge passed the order without understanding the nature of the case and the role of the person seeking anticipatory bail.

The Judge was of the opinion that the Sessions Judge failed to note that the allegation was very serious which even affected the safety of the nation.

Acquittal confirmed

A Bench comprising Justice J.B. Koshy and Justice V. Ramkumar upheld the Thalassery Sessions Court's judgement acquitting 12 accused, including former Minister K. Sudhakaran, in the case relating to the murder of Nalpady Vasu, a DYFI office-bearer. The murder took place in 1993.

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