“We Will Bring The Home Minister Here”: Supreme Court Reprimands Puducherry Sentence Review Board For Non-Compliance With Order

The Supreme Court on Monday (November 11) strongly reprimanded the Sentence Review Board of the Union Territory of Puducherry for failing to consider a remission plea of a convict, despite a prior court direction.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih ordered the Inspector General of Prisons, who is the Board's member-secretary, to submit an affidavit explaining the Board's conduct.

During the hearing, the Court expressed strong displeasure, warning that it will initiate contempt proceedings against the Board members, including the Home Minister, who chairs the board, for disregarding the Court's orders.

“We will issue contempt notice to him (Home Minister). We will issue contempt notice to all the members of the sentence review board. We will bring the Home Minister here. If order of this court is to be taken so lightly and so casually, we will bring the Home Minister here”, Justice Oka said.

The case in question concerned a plea by petitioner Karuna alias Manoharan, who sought remission after serving over 24 years of his life sentence for a murder conviction. The petitioner was convicted alongside other co-accused, including Satish, who was granted remission by the Supreme Court in January 2024, thereby overturning the Board's decision to deny his premature release.

Following the January order, the Supreme Court directed the Board on August 27, 2024, to reconsider Karuna's case for remission in light of the relief granted to Satish.

The Court reviewed the minutes of the Board's recent meeting, focusing on paragraph 16 concerning the petitioner's case. It found that the Board had failed to evaluate Karuna's remission plea as directed, noting a lack of reference to the January 25 order. “The direction of this court was to reconsider the case of the present petitioner in the light of the order dated 25th of January 2024 passed by this court in the case of the co-accused. Unfortunately, we find from the minutes that there is no consideration in terms of the order dated January 25, 2024,” the bench observed in its order.

The Court added, “Prima facie, Sentence Review Board has committed violation of direction issued by this court on 27/08/2024 for which sentence review board owes an explanation. We direct the Inspector General Prisons who is the Member Secretary of the Sentence Review Board to file an affidavit explaining the conduct.”

In light of the Board's non-compliance and the petitioner's prolonged imprisonment, the Court granted interim bail to Karuna. It ordered that he be presented before the trial court, which would release him on temporary bail under appropriate conditions after hearing the state public prosecutors on the terms.

The Supreme Court set the next hearing date for January 10, 2025, and directed the Inspector General of Prisons to file his affidavit by January 6, 2025.

Case no. – W.P.(Crl.) No. 145/2024

Case Title – Karuna @ Manoharan v. Union Territory of Puducherry and Ors.

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