Man spends 6 more years in jail for returning a day late

Times of India: Chennai: Monday, January 27, 2014.

Life convict Susairaj still cannot believe that his impulsive decision to return to jail one-day late after a three-day emergency parole in 2006 has resulted in six years of additional imprisonment. He is all set to be released from jail now, thanks to an order of the Madras high court, which said the alleged prison offence should not be held against him.

Susairaj, 43, married with two daughters, was arrested by the Kasimedu police in 1997 in connection with a murder case. He was found guilty and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. The sentence was confirmed by the high court too.

On November 10, 2006, he managed to obtain three-day emergency parole to visit his ailing mother and children. Though he should have returned to the prison by November 14, he stayed back for a day as the children had high fever. He, however, returned to jail in the early morning of November 15, 2006, said his counsel P Pugalenthi.

While so, the then DMK government came out with an amnesty scheme for life convicts and decided to prematurely release those who had completed seven years of actual imprisonment, as on September 15, 2008. A total of 1,405 life convicts were released.

But Susairaj was not included in the list of beneficiaries, apparently due to the fact that he returned later after parole. As Susairaj had completed eight years of imprisonment, he was fully eligible for premature release, but for the alleged prison offence, submitted advocate M Radhakrishnan.

After information obtained through the Right To Information (RTI) Act revealed that there were no prison records about the alleged overstay by Susairaj during his parole, his wife Meena moved the high court for his release.

A division bench of Justice S Rajeswaran and Justice P N Prakash, allowing her plea on Wednesday, said: "The detenue has overstayed for a day, which certainly cannot be put against him for considering his premature release." They also directed the prison authorities to release Susairaj immediately unless he is not required in connection with any other case.