Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Nafiyaz Shaikh, one of the four persons convicted in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of 17-year-old Mandar Surlakar, has approached the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court seeking premature release from his life sentence.
Shaikh’s plea follows the High Court’s recent decision permitting three other convicts in the case — Rohan Pai Dhungat, Ryan Pinto and Shankar Tiwari — to be released before completion of their full life sentences.
His request will be examined against the remission policy and the legal framework governing premature release of prisoners.
In its recent ruling, a Division Bench of Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar considered the prolonged incarceration of the three convicts and their eligibility for remission. The court noted that they had completed the required period of actual imprisonment for consideration of premature release.
The Bench also stressed the reformative purpose of remission, observing that continued imprisonment after a prolonged period must be assessed in terms of whether it serves a meaningful purpose.
The court accordingly set aside the government’s rejection of the remission recommendation and directed the authorities to release the three convicts.
The release has been made subject to police monitoring. The convicts have been directed to report to the police station within whose jurisdiction they reside once every month for the first six months and once every three months during the following six months.
The High Court also rejected the plea filed by Mandar’s father opposing the premature release and declined to suspend the operation of its order.
The case originated in August 2006, when Mandar, a law student, was allegedly abducted by four fellow law college students as part of a plan to demand ₹50 lakh from his father.
According to the prosecution, preparations for the abduction allegedly included arranging ropes, syringes, adhesive tape, baseball bats, gloves and fake vehicle registration plates.
Mandar was allegedly abducted on August 14, 2006, assaulted and restrained, and made to record a ransom message. He was subsequently killed and his body was recovered near Ponda the following day. The post-mortem examination attributed his death to strangulation and injuries caused by blows from baseball bats.
The four accused were arrested on August 16, 2006. On June 23, 2014, the Children’s Court convicted them for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, murder, causing disappearance of evidence and offences under the Goa Children’s Act, sentencing all four to life imprisonment.
With three co-convicts now granted premature release, Shaikh has moved the High Court seeking similar consideration of his case.
