Mathaiyan, forest brigand Veerappan’s elder brother, wants to spend the last years of his life with his family. He has been in prison for 23 years for murder.
The 69-year-old convict sentenced to life imprisonment has invoked a Tamil Nadu Government Order (G.O.) issued on November 10, 1994, to stake his claim for a premature release. The order says prisoners who have completed 20 years of actual imprisonment may be considered for release on humanitarian grounds.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked Mathaiyan's lawyer, advocate Kailash Chand, to handover a copy of the petition to the Tamil Nadu government. The court posted the case for October 4.
Mathaiyan said the G.O. of 1994 was based on the recommendations of the All India Committee on Prison Reforms that the gubernatorial power under Article 161 of the Constitution may be used to grant remission of punishment to convicts who have completed 20 years in prison.
The petition alleged that though he is eligible for remission, he has not been granted relief. He claimed that at least 100 prisoners were released in 2007. The remission petition was dismissed by the Madras High Court in December 2015.
“The petitioner has undergone more than 20 years as a life convict in prison. If he would be prematurely released from prison, he will have the opportunity to live with his wife and two daughters in during the last period of his life,” the petition said.
Mathaiyan was sentenced to life in November 1997.
Veerappan was killed on October 18, 2004 in the Papparapatti village of the Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu.
