CHENNAI: The Madras High Court of imposed Rs 50,000 as costs on the Puzhal Central Prison Superintendent and a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs for failing to submit records relating to the adaptation of the sentence of a Sri Lankan narcotics convict transferred to India under the bilateral prisoner transfer agreement.
Mohamed Sameer filed a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of his father, Zakir Hussain, who was convicted by a Lankan court in 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment in a drug trafficking case involving the possession of 720 grams of heroin.
When Hussain sought repatriation to India under the agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons between India and Lanka, the Ministry of Home Affairs, by an order dated July 29, 2016, adapted his sentence to one corresponding to the punishment prescribed under Indian law.
He was transferred to India in 2016 and lodged in Puzhal prison, with the stipulation that he would be in prison till 2022. However, his father was still in prison though this period expired, Sameer submitted.
Despite repeated queries from the court, the Union government was unable to produce any communication to show that the Lankan government had accepted or had even been informed of the adaptation of the sentence, observed Justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan observed.
The court directed the two officials to jointly pay costs of Rs 50,000 to the High Court Legal Services Committee within four weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on July 25.