PANAJI
The State government is set to move the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the Bombay High Court at Goa's order directing the premature release of three life convicts in the 2006 Mandar Surlakar kidnapping and murder case.
Meanwhile, the fourth accused- Nafiaz Sheikh, has now filed a petition in the Court seeking premature release citing High Court’s August 6 order that allowed the premature release of convicts Rohan Pai Dhungat, Ryan Pinto and Shankar Tiwari.
Sources confirmed that the State will file the SLP next week challenging the High Court's August 6 judgment. Efforts to contact Advocate General Devidas Pangam were futile.
The High Court had allowed the release of the three convicts after noting that they had completed more than 14 years of actual imprisonment and over 20 years of sentence including remission, making them eligible for consideration under the Goa Prison Rules.
In its judgment, the High Court quashed the State government's decision rejecting their premature release despite recommendations from the State Sentence Review Board (SSRB). The bench held that the gravity of the offence alone cannot be the sole ground for denying remission after conviction and sentencing, emphasising that the criminal justice system also recognises the principle of reformation and rehabilitation.
The case dates back to August 2006, when 16-year-old Mandar Surlakar was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh and later murdered. Four law students were convicted in the case in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The High Court upheld their convictions in 2019 but declined the prosecution's plea for imprisonment without remission.
