'Unlucky' Prisoner Languishing In Jabalpur Jail For 27 Years, Awaits High Court Verdict

Shiv Chandan, a prisoner lodged in Jabalpur jail since 1996, is facing the consequences of legal complexities. HC will hear his case on January 15.

Jabalpur: Despite serving jail sentence, the story of many prisoners gets silenced behind the prison walls. For nearly three decades now, Shiv Chandan Dahle has been languishing in jail facing life sentence, while all others convicted in the same case have been set free. His release, unfortunately, has been marred by legal complexities.

Shiv Chandan worked as a labourer in Bharbeli village of Madhya Pradesh's Balaghat to fend for his family of four, which included his two daughters aged three years and one year. However, his life turned upside down on May 8, 1996, when a dispute during wedding at his neighbour's house turned fatal. A minor verbal duel between wedding procession members and the villagers escalated into violent clash, leaving his neighbour Sanjay Surole dead. After investigation, Police arrested six persons — Manoj, Baburao, Deepak, Shiv Chandan Dahle, Dwarka and Shankar and subsequently in 1998, the Balaghat district court sentenced all the accused to life imprisonment under (IPC) sections 302 and 148.

Shiv Chandan's Release Hits Legal Roadblock

Over the years, all six persons convicted in the murder case challenged the district court's sentence in the High Court, but the HC upheld the sentence citing that all charges are true. They then moved Supreme Court seeking justice. In 2018, the Apex Court acquitted everyone except Shiv Chandan, citing insufficient evidence for his release.

Shiv's case was different. The 1998 prison policy allowed remission for well-behaved prisoners, and the jail authorities issued a letter granting him the benefit of remission of sentence owing to his good behaviour. But as per policy, remission of sentence can only be given to a prisoner whose appeal is not pending in any court. Therefore, Shiv Chandan withdrew his appeal from the Supreme Court. He was hoping that he would be released from jail through remission of sentence but it didn't happen.

Shiv Chandan Implicated In Murder Case In Balaghat Sub-jail

In 2008, Shiv’s name surfaced in murder of dreaded criminal Shailesh Nai inside the sub-jail. A case was registered against 13 persons including Shiv Chandan and Jail in-charge Hukum Singh Armo and judicial investigations revealed that it was a planned murder. However, Shiv later got bail in this case, after evidences suggested that he was in a separate barrack at the time of the murder.

Prison Policy Becomes Major Obstacle In Shiv's Release

Shiv was supposed to be release in 2012 under remission, but a new policy came into effect, which barred remission for inmates accused of murder inside jail premises. Jabalpur Jail DIG Akhilesh Tomar said, "Shiv Chandan Dahle was being released in 2012 under the 1998 jail policy. But before he could be released, a new jail policy came into effect in 2012, which said that if a prisoner is accused of murder in jail, he will not get pardon. Even under the 2022 jail policy, Shiv Chandan Dahle's release seems difficult."

Appeal To High Court To Release Shiv Chandan Dahle

Advocate Brijesh Rajak, now representing Shiv Chandan, argued, "No murder charges have been proved against Shiv. Yet he is serving a sentence inside the jail for 27 years. If his sentence is counted according to the jail rules, then it is equivalent to 40 years in jail. Shiv Chandan should be released on the basis of 1998 jail policy and acquittal of other accused by SC in the 1996 case."

The advocate has appealed to the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Suresh Kumar Kait for release of Shiv Chandan Dahle.

1800 Undertrial Prisoners In Jabalpur Jail

Jabalpur Jailor Madan Kamlesh said, "Currently 1800 undertrial prisoners are lodged in Jabalpur's Subhash Chandra Bose Central Jail. Over the last few years, we have witnessed that most of the prisoners either get punishment after conviction or are acquitted in 2-3 years. The judicial process has been expedited, because of which undertrial prisoners get justice quickly. However, it seems Shiv Chandan's luck is not with him."

Precisely, it has been 27 years that Shiv Chandan Dahle has been in the jail. And outside, his family is struggling to make ends meet. His daughters, now 30 and 28 years old, are still unmarried due to financial hardships. Now all of them are awaiting the High Court's decision as the next hearing in the case has been scheduled for January 15.