Delhi HC holds sitting on Sunday; grants parole to gang rape convict for sister’s last rites

The Delhi High Court (HC) held a special sitting on Sunday and granted a four-week parole to a gang rape convict to attend the last rites of his sister, who died this morning. Justice Sanjeev Narula, who on November 7 granted one-day custody parole to the 55-year-old convict on humanitarian grounds to meet his ailing sister in the hospital, was informed on Sunday morning that the woman had passed away and cremation was slated in the evening.

“The application is allowed. The petitioner shall be released on parole for four weeks from the date of his release, upon furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000, with the cash surety earlier deposited with the jail authorities (at the time of his last furlough), to the satisfaction of the concerned jail superintendent,” the court said.

Convict Tasleem’s 60-year-old sister was suffering from post-tuberculosis lung complications and was on long-term oxygen therapy. She was moved to the ICU on November 6. His application was taken up for hearing on urgent mentioning in view of the demise of his sister. Tasleem sought parole to attend the last rites and to remain with his family at this time of bereavement.

Tasleem was arrested for the offence of gang rape of a woman in 1997 and was awarded life imprisonment in 1999. He challenged his conviction and sentence in the High Court, which dismissed the appeal. Later, the Supreme Court also rejected his appeal.

The convict had challenged the decision of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) denying him parole. The court recently pulled up SRB for the “superficial and perfunctory manner in which the matter is being handled”. “This court has, over the past months, been dealing with numerous petitions concerning premature release, and in each such matter, meaningful adjudication depends upon the existence of a uniform and rational procedure consistent with the directions issued in the Santosh Kumar Singh case,” the court had said.

Santosh Kumar Singh is serving a life term for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo. While rejecting Santosh Kumar Singh’s plea for premature release, the high court had framed certain guidelines to be followed by SRB while considering prisoners’ pleas.

It had said the current framework of SRB does not contemplate a formal psychological evaluation of a convict by a competent medical professional. In such a situation, it is difficult for the SRB to take an informed assessment as to whether a convict has lost the propensity to commit the crime, the court had said. It had further said the SRB must conduct a psychological assessment of convicts while considering their pleas.