Man In Jail For 29 Yrs- Calcutta High Court Directs Authorities To Decide Application Of Remission Within 45 Days

The Bench of Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee was hearing the plea of an appellant who has, till now, undergone sentence for more than 29 years following his conviction and sentence handed down on different counts.

The case before the Court

The appellant, who is currently serving life imprisonment, had applied for 'premature release', which was considered by the Government on the basis of certain police inputs.

However, ultimately that application was rejected and the petitioner/appellant challenged it before the Single Judge which was turned down.

Before the Single Bench, his fundamental plea was that his co-convicts in the same case have already been released, however, the Single Judge rejected the application turning down the contentions raised therein.

The matter comes before the Division Bench

Having looked into the substance of this litigation and the nature of the complaint, the Court opined that requisite action in terms of Section 432 Cr.P.C. had to be put in motion if the appellant makes an application for remission of sentence in terms of that provision.

The Court specifically said,

"The procedure for considering an application for remission of sentence under Section 432 Cr.P.C. is spread out in that Section through various subsections and clauses in such a way that Section 432 constitutes a Code by itself."

Importantly, the Court said,

"We are of the view that an application under Section 432 Cr.P.C. cannot be kept pending for long. If a person is entitled to relief by way of remission of sentence in terms of Section 432, that needs to be considered within the shortest period and earliest point of time."

Consequently, the Court gave the appellant the liberty to make an appropriate application for remission of the sentence before the competent authority in the Government of West Bengal.

Also, the authorities have been directed to process that application following the due procedure in terms of Section 432 and have a final decision was taken through the competent authority.

Additionally, all the authorities concerned have been directed to necessarily give utmost priority to any such application and have it finally disposed of within an outer limit of 45 days from the date of receipt of such application and a copy of the Judgment by the competent authority in the Government of West Bengal.

Lastly, the order issued by the competent authority has been directed to be communicated to the petitioner and the Superintendent of the Correctional Home, where the petitioner is housed, within a week from the date of the order.

With the aforesaid directions, the appeal stood disposed of along with the connected application.

Case title - Sri Gopal Sarkar Vs The State of West Bengal & Others [M.A.T. No.252 of 2021 With C.A.N. 1 of 2021]

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