Ramehar vs State of Haryana

H.S. Bedi, J. (Oral)

By this order I intend to dispose of Criminal Misc. Nos. 11083M of 1994, 932M of 1994, 8421M of 1994 and 10654M of 1994.

The petitioner has sought his premature release on the plea that he has completed the requisite period of imprisonment. This prayer of the petitioner has been declined by the respondents on the ground that while computing the total period of imprisonment, 8 months and 26 days were to be deducted on account of the fact that the petitioner had been on parole during this time. Reliance for this assertion has been placed by the learned counsel for the respondents on Section 3(3) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988.

Mr. R.N. Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioner, has, however, relied on two Single Bench judgments of this Court reported as Rajinder Singh v. State of Punjab and another, 1984 Crl. LJ. 425 and Faqir Singh v. State of Punjab and another, 1988(1) RCR 558 and also relied upon Mani Ram v. Union of India, AIR 1980 SC 2147 in which it has been held that the period when the petitioner was on parole can be taken into account for the purpose of premature release, though, it cannot be so taken into account while computing the total period of sentence. The implication of these observations is that the period that was spent on parole was to be deducted not from actual sentence undergone but from the total period of sentence i.e. the actual sentence plus remissions earned by the petitioner. If that be the situation, Mr. Sharma asserts the petitioner was entitled to release as he had undergone more than 14 years actual imprisonment and earned more than six years remissions. As the total period undergone would be a matter of calculation, this petition is allowed with a direction to the respondent to reconsider the case of the petitioner in the light of the above observations for premature release within a period of two months from the date that a copy of this order is supplied to them, failing which the petitioner will be released on bail to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate concerned.