The Madras High Court bench here on Tuesday granted six days parole to two prisoners to attend the funeral of their father.
Petitioner Petchiyammal told the court through her counsel R.Venkatesan that her sons Ramakrishnan and Ramar were serving ten-year sentence in the Madurai Central Prison.
The brothers were convicted by a trial court in 2004 in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the counsel said. According to the counsel, the father of the prisoners died on Monday.
The prison authorities permitted the two brothers to visit their village Poosaripatti near Nilakottai for the cremation on Monday.
However, they declined to grant seven days parole, he claimed. He contended that the seven-day parole was necessary for the prisoners to complete all the post-death rituals. The Special Public Prosecutor appearing for the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Government Pleader opposed the petition, contending that seven-day parole was not necessary for performing rituals.
Justice M.M. Sundresh, in his judgement, said the prisoners had only five more months to serve the sentence. “It is a fit case where they should be let out on parole for a period of four days from today,” the judge ruled. However, while disposing of the case, he directed the escorts not to allow the prisoners to go out of the village.
