BENGALURU: One cannot forget that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
The fact that a person is convicted and put behind bars, does not render him a destitute of all liberty and dignity, the high court observed while coming to the rescue of one Shyam, a murder convict since March 2, 1999 and lodged at Central Prison, Belagavi.
The court ordered for the release of Shyam alias Raju Reddy, a resident of Ganagalu village in Hoskote taluk, for 15 days on parole and furlough from November 1, so as to enable him to perform his younger daughter S Monish’s marriage scheduled to be held on November 7 and 8 at Bastipura in Kollegal taluk.
Though the government advocate made a submission that Shyam being convicted in three murder cases cannot claim parole and furlough as a matter of right and in view of his blameworthy track record, he may flee from the clutches of law, the court was not impressed.
The court pointed out that the main purpose of releasing a serving convict on parole is to afford to him an opportunity to solve his personal and family problems and to enable him to maintain his links with the civil society. “One cannot forget that in matters like this, a humanistic approach needs to be adopted qua the convicts...,” Justice Krishna S Dixit observed .
Shyam’s wife Suma had approached the court after the authorities rejected her representation submitted in October, wherein she had prayed for releasing her husband on parole/ furlough for two months.
