PANAJI
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on a Special Leave Petition filed by the Goa government challenging the order of the High Court at Goa allowing the premature release of three life convicts in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of Mandar Surlakar.
The bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice Prasanna B Varale delivered the order while hearing the State's challenge to the high court judgment dated August 6, 2026, subsequent to which convicts Rohan Dhungat, Ryan Pinto and Shankar Tiwari were released.
During the hearing, counsel appearing for the State submitted that several connected criminal special leave petitions and diary matters on similar issues were pending before different coordinate benches of the apex court.
Taking note of the submission, the bench directed the Registry to place all connected matters before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders on their listing before a suitable bench. The matter will now be placed before the Chief Justice for directions on clubbing and listing of the related cases.
In its August 6 order, the high court had set aside the State government's December 18, 2025 decision rejecting the recommendation of the State Sentence Review Board for the premature release of the three convicts.
The high court had observed that remission policy is guided by a reformative rather than retributive approach and held that, after more than two decades of incarceration, continued imprisonment of the convicts would serve little purpose. It had consequently directed the authorities to release the trio within 30 days, subject to compliance with applicable conditions.
