Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court has directed the jail authorities to release a convict who was sentenced to 10 years in a murder case on parole for 15 days for getting married. A bench headed by Justice M Nagaprasanna has given this notice after accepting the petition filed by the convict Anand's lover Neetha G and his mother Rathnamma.
The convict had been in love with a young woman for the past 9 years and should be released on parole to marry her, the petitioners sought. On August 17, 2015, Anand (21 years at the time of the incident) was arrested by the Masti police station in connection with the murder of a person in Nagdenahalli, Masti Hobli in connection with a real estate dispute.
Later, in 2019, the Sessions Court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment. On appeal, a division bench of the High Court reduced the sentence to 10 years. In the meantime, the lover of the convict filed an application seeking instruction to the jail authorities to release him on parole for 15 days so that he could get married.
The DIG of Parappana Agrahara Central Jail and the Chief Superintendent of Parappana Agrahara Jail have been ordered to impose strict conditions and release the convict (prisoner no. 11699) for 15 days by the afternoon of April 5. Also, as per sub-section 12 of Section 636 of the Jail Manual, the head of the institution has the discretion to grant parole to prisoners in exceptional circumstances. Therefore, parole can be granted considering that it is a very rare case, the bench said in its order.
During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner said that the convict was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years when he was 21 years old. The petitioner young woman has been in love with the convict for the past 9 years and if parole is not granted, she will lose the love of her life. The applicant must be unwillingly married to someone other than a jail inmate. Therefore, he demanded that the prisoner should be given parole with conditions.
The lawyer for the government, who had objected to this, said that the prison manual does not allow parole to get married. Therefore, he appealed to the bench that the petition should be dismissed. After hearing the arguments, the bench referred to various orders of the Bombay High Court, Rajasthan High Court and the Division Benches of the State High Court which could support the plea of the petitioner and directed him to be released on parole for 15 days.
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