Frowning upon a “disturbing order” passed by the Orissa High Court junking his appeal on solely the ground of delay, the Supreme Court has granted bail to a murder convict who spent more than 22 years in jail.
“We are convinced that we should release the petitioner on bail in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case. Thus, in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution as an exceptional case, we order that the petitioner be released on bail on his executing a personal bond of Rs. 10,000 to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent,” a Bench led by Justice J B Pardiwala said.
“Registry shall inform about this Order to the Senior Superintendent, Circle Jail, Koraput at the earliest as well as the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput,” it said.
The Bench, which also included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, said the high court should have taken a “practical and sympathetic” view of the matter and condoned the delay to give an opportunity to the convict to argue his appeal on merits.
The convict has not been released even once on parole or furlough and said that sending the matter back to the high court to hear the criminal appeal on merits will be a futile exercise, it noted.
It directed the District Legal Services Authority, Koraput in Odisha to help the petitioner in preparing an appropriate representation, seeking remission of sentence in accordance with the remission policy prevailing at the time of the commission of the offence.
The top court clarified that it has passed this order keeping in mind the fact that the petitioner has been undergoing sentence for the past 22 years, he has not been released even once during this period and his jail conduct has also been found to be satisfactory.
The order came on a plea filed by a man challenging an Orissa High Court order refusing to condone the delay of 3,157 days in preferring a criminal appeal against the judgment and order of conviction passed by the trial court. The high court dismissed the criminal appeal on the ground of being time-barred.
The petitioner was convicted of murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 by Additional Sessions Judge, Nabarangpur and was awarded life imprisonment.
