Rajbir vs State of Haryana and Others

Nawab Singh, J.—Rajbir -Petitioner was convicted u/s 302 of Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life by Additional Sessions Judge, Panipat by judgment dated January 21st, 1995 in case First Information Report No. 360 dated July 15th, 1992, Police Station - Sadar, Panipat.

Per the affidavit of Surinder Singh, Superintendent, District Jail, Bhiwani, the Petitioner has undergone actual sentence of 16 years 5 months and 21 days and sentence of 19 years and 11 months including remissions. Out of the said period, he availed parole of 1 year 7 months and 4 days. Thus, the total sentence undergone by the Petitioner was 18 years 3 months and 26 days. He was released on bail by this Court on his furnishing adequate surety, by order dated December 9th, 2009 (Annexure P/4), and the State Government was directed to consider the pre-mature release case of the Petitioner. His case was rejected by order dated August 3rd, 2010 by Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Government, Jails Department, Haryana on the ground that the Petitioner did not earn six years'' remissions.

The solitary prayer of learned Counsel for the Petitioner is that the remissions granted to the Petitioner were not calculated in accordance with the provisions of Punjab Jail Manual, 1968 particularly when his co-accused have been released prematurely on completion of the sentence.

In view of this, State is directed to re-consider the case of the Petitioner for pre-mature release after calculating the period of remissions, in accordance with law.