Prisoner gets Rs 4 Lakh for extended stay

A division bench, comprising Justices R Sudhakar and PN Prakash, held that “The memo of calculation reveals that the prisoner should have been released on March 9, 2010. But he was released only on October 16, 2014. Thus, it is evident that the prisoner has suffered 4 years, 7 months and 7 days in excess of the period of sentence, without any justifiable cause.” 

The anomaly came to light after the convict’s filed a Habeas Corpus Petition. He had contended that his father Pakkirisamy, despite completing his sentence was not released from incarceration. 

As per the case, Pakkirisiamy, his son Annadurai and wife Rani were tried by the additional sessions judge, Nagapattinam in 2001. All three were ordered to undergo life imprisonment, along with additional punishment for other offences. Subsequently, based on an appeal in the High Court, the sentence was modified from life sentence to just five years RI. But the trial judge through an order on January 1, 2006 recommitted him back to prison to undergo the unexpired portion of the sentence.  

However, following the High Court’s intervention, the Superintendent of Central Prison, Cuddalore, conceded to the that the recommital warrant was mistakenly typed and release the prisoner.