The family of the a 41-year-old man from here who is undergoing jail term in Japan in a case of attempted murder is in a dilemma.
A further delay in his anticipated repatriation to India has left it in a State of indecision on whether to wish for his transfer order or wait for another two years till he completes his term in Japan.
The family of Mahendra Kumar from Adukkathuparamba at Madikkai, had been hoping that his release was imminent following an intimation from the Indian Embassy in Tokyo on May 31 that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had approved his transfer to India under the Council of Europe Convention of Transfer of Sentenced Persons (CECTSP) to serve the remainder of his sentence in a prison in his home State. The Japanese Ministry of Justice is now learnt to have delayed the transfer till next year.
The case
Kumar, according to his family, had been running a restaurant at Morokawa in Japan when he was ‘falsely implicated’ in a case of clash between two armed groups of Keralites there on March 3, 2008.
The family’s claim is that he happened to be there to mediate between the two groups.
His jail term in Japan ends on July 20, 2021.
The intimation from the Indian Embassy states that he has to serve the 12-year sentence awarded by the Japanese court, said K. Rajeevan, a senior member of the Hosdurg Bar. The intimation informs that Kumar would not be considered for an early release.
Early release
When contacted, Kumar’s elder brother Vinod Kumar, who has been living in Ibaraki Ken in Japan, told The Hindu that the Japanese Ministry of Justice is understood to have intimated the Embassy that his brother’s repatriation and jail transfer would be considered only after March next year.
