Supreme Court seeks Tamil Nadu response on Mathaiyan's plea for remission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Tamil Nadu on a petition filed by Mathaiyan, brother of forest brigand Veerapppan, seeking remission of his life sentence and release from prison on the ground that he had been languishing in jail for over 23 years.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud asked counsel Dwarakanath, appearing for Mathaiyan, to serve a copy of the petition on the standing counsel for Tamil Nadu and posted the matter for further hearing on October 3.

The petitioner said that he was awarded life sentence in a case relating to murder, dacoity, rape and he has been in jail for more than 23 years. He said under the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, he was entitled for remission of sentence. The state government has also passed a GO in 1987 based on the recommendations of all India committee on prison reforms for grant of remission and premature release after completion of 20 years of imprisonment.

Mathiayan said he filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras high court in June 2014 and the state in its response said it was considering to place his case before the advisory board which would decide whether or not to grant remission. He said despite that order, his case was yet to be placed before the board and by now he had completed 23 years in jail. He wanted a direction to the state government to consider his case for premature release so that he could spend rest of his life with his wife and two daughters.