SK released on bail the 104-year life sentence for murder | News of India

NEW DELHI: Rasik Chandra Mandal was born in a nondescript village in Malda district in 1920, the year the Indian National Congress launched its non-cooperation movement against the British. More than a century later, he is languishing in the Supreme Court as a lifer, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
Convicted in 1994 in a 1988 murder case, when he was 68 and serving a life sentence, he was transferred to a correctional facility in Balurghat, West Bengal from prison due to age-related ailments. His appeal against the conviction was rejected by the Calcutta HC in 2018 and later by the Supreme Court.
Mandal filed a writ petition before the SC in 2020, just short of his centenary, seeking early release, citing advanced age and related ailments, while seeking exemption from the norm of spending 14 years behind bars to be eligible for parole. premature release or remission of the sentence.
On 7 May 2021, Justice Abdul Nazir, now retired, and Justice Sanjeev Khanna sent a notice to the West Bengal government and asked the prison superintendent to “submit a report on the physical condition and health of Mandal, who has been in custody since 14 January 2019”.
On Friday, the case came up for hearing before a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, who sought Mandal status from advocate Astha Sharma, appearing for the West Bengal government. Sharma told the SC that Mandal has age-related health problems but is otherwise in stable health and will soon celebrate his 104th birthday. The court accepted Mandal’s plea and passed an interim order releasing Mandal “on interim bail/parole in a case filed on November 9, 1988 at Manikchak Police Station, Malda District”.
Mandal was found guilty by the trial court on 12 December 1994 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Immediately thereafter, he appealed against his conviction in the Calcutta HC. However, on January 5, 2018, it took almost a quarter of a century for the Supreme Court to uphold his conviction and sentence. On March 11, 2019, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision. He moved the motion because of the 48-year term, the old son is begging to be released from prison so that he can spend the last days of his life with family members.