Coming across a case of a man from Tirunelveli languishing in prison for over 25 years with no assistance extended to him to file an appeal against conviction by the trial court, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Member-Secretary of Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority (TNLSA) to appear before the court.
The court was hearing the criminal appeal filed against the conviction and sentence imposed by Additional Sessions Judge II, Tirunelveli, in 1996. The trial court sentenced the man to life imprisonment for committing sexual assault and murder. Only in 2018, the appeal against the conviction was filed through legal aid.
Appearing for the man through legal aid, advocate R. Alagumani submitted that there were many such convict prisoners languishing in the prison for want of proper legal aid to file an appeal against their conviction. He submitted that the court could issue directions to the TNLSA to collect details of such convicts and provide legal aid to them.
A Division Bench of Justices V. Bharathidasan and J. Nisha Banu directed the Member-Secretary of the TNLSA to appear before the court through video conferencing on September 17 to assist it.
