AFTAB Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has been invoked by the petitioner seeking quashing of the impugned order dtd. 11/12/2023 (Annexure P-8) passed by respondent No.1 vide which the prayer for grant of premature release has been rejected and passed an order that the petitioner shall remain in jail till his last breath.

(2.) Mr. Rahul Deswal, Advocate for the petitioner has inter-alia submits that the case of the petitioner is squarely covered under para 2 (aa) (iv) of the Premature Release Policy dtd. 12/4/2002 (Annexure P-3). According to the said provision, the petitioner has to undergo 20 years of actual sentence and 25 years of total sentence with remission whereas, in the present case the petitioner has undergone more than 24 years of actual imprisonment and 29 years of total imprisonment including remission till date.

(3.) It is asserted that vide communication No. 11348, dtd. 29/3/2017 (Annexure P-4), respondent No.3 has returned the case of the petitioner to respondent No.2 with a direction to send his premature release case as and when he will complete his requisite sentence as per para 2 (aa) (iv). Thus, again after completion of requisite sentence as per para 2 (aa) (iv), the case of the petitioner for premature release was forwarded to the authorities but the same was deferred for two years vide order dtd. 22/3/2021 (Annexure P-5) on the ground that the life convict is a habitual offender and has also remained involved in five other serious criminal offences such as murder, decoity and under Arms Act etc and he does not deserve any concession at this stage from the Government.