(1.) This is a petition under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, read with section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for quashing the impugned order, Annexure P5 (vide which premature release has been denied to the petitioner) being illegal, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14,19 and 21 of the Constitution.
(2.) The petitioner in the petition has stated that according to the Instructions, dated July 8, 1991, he fulfils all the requisite conditions for grant of premature release. He has undergone more than ten years of actual sentence and more than fourteen years of sentence including remissions. He was found to have committed one Jail offence in the year 1985. Only punishment of warning was imposed for the said Jail offence and even that Jail offence cannot be taken into consideration as no judicial appraisal of the Sessions Judge concerned was ever obtained, in view of the observations of their Lordships of the Apex Court in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration1. Even otherwise, the said jail offence, according to the petitioner, is more than five years old and cannot be taken into consideration as per the authoritative pronouncements of this Court in a catena of authorities. He says that he has not committed any Jail offence particularly during the last five years and he had been released on parole/furlough on several occasions without any sort of complaint against his antecedents/conduct. There is no apprehension of breach of peace on his release. Above all, the Village Panchayat has recommended his case for release prematurely. The Panchayatnama is annexed as Annexure P6 with the petition. No dispute is said to be pending consideration relating to the circumstances of the crime for which the petitioner was originally convicted. Police record of the petitioner is absolutely clean. No First Information Report and no complaint of whatsoever nature is pending for investigation or trial against the petitioner.
(3.) The petitioner has stated in the petition that he does not fall in the category of prisoners who have committed heinous crime as has been provided under the 8th July, 1991 Instructions, appended as Annexure P2 with the petition.