Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future: Karnataka HC gives murderer parole

“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

The High Court of Karnataka cited this famous line from Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde’s 1893 play ‘A Woman Of No Importance’ to order the release of a triple murderer on 15-day parole so that he can attend his daughter’s wedding scheduled for November 7 and 8 in Kollegal, Chamarajanagar district.

Justice Krishna S Dixit passed this order on a petition filed by the convict’s wife. Prison authorities had turned down his representation for permission to attend the wedding. The convict, a resident of Gangalu village in Hoskote taluk, Bengaluru Rural district, has been serving jail term since March 2, 1999, for killing three people. He is presently lodged at the Central Prison in Hindalga, Belagavi.

Opposing the parole petition, the Additional Government Advocate contended that parole and furlough are not a matter of right. The prisoner was convicted for the murder of three persons and therefore whatever arguable right he had for parole does not avail him, the counsel stated.

The bench took a different view.

A convict has to keep in contact with civil society although sporadically so that his societal roots do not dry up when he languishes in the jail, the bench noted. “Otherwise, when he returns from the prison after completing the term of sentence, he may be a total stranger and life may prove hard to him; this is not a happy thing to happen in a welfare state,” the court stated.

Justice Dixit affirmed that when a young daughter is getting married, the presence of her father is desirable. “He had violated some parole condition earlier, maybe true; however, 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 the bars does not render him a destitute of all liberty and dignity,” the judge said.

The court has directed the authorities to release the convict on parole/furlough from the forenoon of November 1, 2021, until the afternoon of November 15, 2021.

The respondents are to stipulate strict conditions as are usually stipulated to ensure the return of the convict to the jail, and that he shall not commit any other offence, the court stated.