CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the premature release of a life convict, after giving the benefit of retrospective effect to an acquittal order from Section 471 of the IPC (Using as genuine a forged document or record or an electronic device).
A division bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and N Satish Kumar granted the relief, while allowing a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of one Jabroo aka Sayed Jafer Ahmed, now lodged in the Central Prison in Coimbatore, under the September 11, 2008, Government Order.
The judges noted that the only issue, which arises for consideration, is whether or not the detainee ought to have been given the benefit of the GO. It is not in dispute that as per the condition prescribed in the GO, the detainee has undergone more than seven years of actual imprisonment.
As per the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the State, as on September 15, 2008, the detainee had suffered, as a matter of fact, an actual imprisonment of more than 10 years. The reason for denying the relief under the GO was that his case came within the ambit of condition (i)(a) of a GO dated July 20, 1987, which denied the relief of premature release for persons convicted under Section 471 of the IPC.