Politics
Madras High Court grants life convicts 40-day leave
The Hindu·
The Madras High Court ruled life convicts who completed 14 years may take 40 days of ordinary leave in two instalments annually. Justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan said prison authorities wrongly forced one spell per year. The bench read spell in Rule 22(2)(c) as instalment. The order allowed S. Babu 14 more days after 26 days in April 2026.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Eligible life convicts may split 40 days of ordinary leave across two instalments within one year.
- The next annual entitlement begins a year after the last day of the second instalment.
- Prison officials cannot require the full 40 days in a single spell each year.
What's Happening
- The case arose from S. Babu's writ after officials denied 14 days following 26 days in April 2026.
- Rule 22(3) requires a year between second or subsequent spells from the last leave.
- The court said lawmakers intended two instalments within a year.
Tamil Nadu sentence suspension rules
- Absconding and leave
- The bench noted absconding does not block ordinary leave five years after the offence.
- Babu underwent 18 years of incarceration excluding absconding periods since a 1992 life sentence.
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