For the Karachi resident, octogenarian Mohammad Khalil Chisti, April proved the cruellest month for, it was on the 14{+t}{+h} of this month in 1992 that he was arrested on charges of murdering one Idris in a group clash on the premises of the world famous Dargah of Sufi Saint Kwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer, Rajasthan. What appeared to be an altercation among cousins at the Baitul Salim Manzil turned bloody and Idris died after he sustained wounds from a gunshot.
After a case was registered in the Ganj police station in Ajmer, Dr. Mohammad Khalil Chisti, who was a reputed virologist in Pakistan, was put on a prolonged trial along with three others — Yasir Chisti, Akil Chisti and Farooq Chisti — under Sections, 307, 302, 324, 323 of the Indian Penal Code.
On the last day of January this year a trial court in Ajmer convicted and sentenced Dr. Chisti and the other accused under Section 302, read with Sections 34 and 324 of the IPC to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.20, 000.
An appeal for suspension of sentence, moved by Dr. Chisti in the Rajasthan High Court, was rejected on the ground that he was a Pakistani national and “no leniency” could be shown in his case. The plea for suspension of sentence from the other three was granted.
Nineteen long years after he allegedly committed the crime, Dr. Chisti, by now an infirm tottering old man, is the jail hospital located on the premises of the Ajmer Central Jail.
On Thursday, anniversary of the black day for him in 1992, Kavita Srivastava, general secretary of the Rajasthan PUCL, could secure permission from the authorities to meet him.
“It is so tragic. I fear Dr. Chisti may not come out alive if he continues in the jail. He is immobilised and someone has to carry him to the bathroom. He has fractured his left hip and is also showing symptoms of palsy,” Ms. Srivastava, one of the signatories of an appeal for amnesty, made to President Pratibha Patil, told The Hindu . The other signatories are senior journalist Kuldip Nayar, the former Navy Chief, Admiral L. Ramdas, journalist Jatin Desai and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
They have appealed to Ms. Patil to consider the case in the light of the goodwill generated between India and Pakistan over the release of Gopal Das, an Indian who was jailed in Pakistan. “As you are aware, India and Pakistan have been exchanging lists of prisoners held in each other's prisons, and have been making good progress in their repatriation. Last month, the Indian Supreme Court made an appeal to Pakistan for the release of Gopal Dass, an Indian citizen who had been imprisoned in Pakistan for the last 27 years. Within a month, Pakistan responded by ordering his release and he is back in India,” the appeal pointed out.
Dr. Chisti has altogether spent 94-95 days in jail. Prior to the conviction he was in jail for 20 days. “While he was out on bail for almost 18 years he never violated bail. He was always present whenever he was asked to report to the police or the courts,” Ms. Srivastava noted.
“Unbridled powers”
Human rights activist and former Inspector-General of Prisons (Rajasthan) Radhakant Saxena says Dr. Chisti can be released by the Governor also as the Constitution gives Governors “unbridled powers” to grant pardon, reprieve, respite or remission of punishment, including life sentence to any person. Mr. Saxena feels that Dr. Chisti can be released under the provisions of the Rajasthan Jail Manual, Part 5, Rule 3 as well. And that opportunity may come on May 1.
The Jail Manual says that “the Superintendent shall on the 1{+s}{+t} of May every year submit to the Inspector-General a list showing the names of every convict who, owing to old age, illness, and infirmity is permanently incapacitated from the commission of further crime of the nature similar to that for which he has been convicted. In cases which appear to him suitable for reference to the government, the Inspector-General, after obtaining the views of the Magistrate where the convicts reside, whether there is any objection to conditional or unconditional release of the convict, shall report the names of such convicts to the government of Rajasthan with his recommendations whether or not the convict should be released.”
The Superintendent could also make special recommendations any time instead of waiting for May 1, Mr. Saxena noted.
