In an unusual Sunday sitting, the Delhi High Court granted four weeks’ parole to a 55-year-old gang rape convict, Tasleem, to attend the last rites of his sister, who died earlier in the day.
Justice Sanjeev Narula convened the special hearing after being informed that the woman had passed away on Sunday morning and her cremation was scheduled for the evening. The judge had earlier, on November 7, allowed one-day custody parole to the convict to visit his ailing sister in hospital.
“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 ₹10,000, with the cash surety earlier deposited with the jail authorities, to the satisfaction of the concerned jail superintendent,” the court directed.
Tasleem’s 60-year-old sister had been suffering from post-tuberculosis lung complications and was on long-term oxygen therapy before being shifted to the ICU on November 6. Following her death, the convict sought parole to perform her last rites and stay with his family in bereavement.
Tasleem, convicted for the gang rape of a woman in 1997 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999, had his conviction upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court.
He has also challenged the Sentence Review Board’s (SRB) denial of parole, prompting the High Court to recently criticise the “superficial and perfunctory” manner in which the SRB handles such matters.
“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,” Justice Narula had earlier observed.
The Santosh Kumar Singh case, involving the 1996 rape and murder of law student, had led the High Court to frame detailed guidelines for the SRB, including mandatory psychological evaluations of convicts before considering their release pleas.
