BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court rejected the petition filed by BA Umesh alias Umesh Reddy, who is serving a life sentence in a rape and murder case in Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara in the city, challenging the stand of the prison department which refused to release him on parole.
“The report indicates inter alia that in the event the petitioner is released on parole, the past enmity against the petitioner can become a threat to his life. The report is also indicative of the fact that, if the petitioner is released on parole, reminiscence of old enmity could emerge,” Justice M Nagaprasanna observed, referring to the report of prison authorities.
Reddy challenged the endorsement dated September 23, 2023, issued by the Chief Superintendent of Central Prison, rejecting his request for 30 days of general parole.
On the reasons cited by Reddy’s counsel for the parole that he has to take care of his ailing mother and also repair the house in which she is staying, the court noted that these reasons run counter to the prison department’s report.
Reddy has two brothers who would take care of the mother or even repair the house.
Both the reasons suffer from want of tenability. It is not that in every case, one should be granted parole for the asking.
Both sides of the coin — the necessity for the grant of parole ingrained in the reformation theory of sentencing and compelling public interest in case habitual offenders may tend to commit the crime again on their parole — will have to be considered.
Particularly in life sentence cases, the other side of the coin cannot be ignored, the court noted.