Madras HC: Convicts have no vested right to premature release – Times of India

CHENNAI: The premature release plea of mastermind in the former AIADMK MLA, MK Balan murder case, N Hariharan @ Hari was rejected by the Madras high court, on the ground that as a life convict he enjoyed no fundamental or statutory right to be released prematurely.
A division bench of Justice P N Prakash and Justice A A Nakkiran, dismissing a writ petition filed by Hariharan’s mother N Sarojini, said that besides having acted as mastermind in the ex-MLA murder case, the convict was involved in prison offences and his behaviour in prison was also not found satisfactory.
“Under our constitutional scheme of things, it is the judiciary which is vested with the power to adjudicate the culpability or otherwise of an accused person. The judicial function ends with the pronouncement of sentence. It is then the function of the executive to carry the sentence. The exercise of constitutional power to grant remission merely abridges the execution of the sentence and does not alter or wipe out the judgment of conviction and sentence by the court,” said the bench.
Balan was murdered in 2001 and a court sentenced Hariharan along with many of the 18 other suspects, to imprisonment for life in 2004. The sentence was upheld by the HC. Hariharan was convicted in another murder case and was sentenced to another life term by a fast track court in 2004. Both sentences were to run concurrently.