CHENNAI: A five-judge bench of the Madras High Court has held that leave and temporary release for jail inmates are facets of human dignity and cannot be denied indefinitely merely because a prisoner's appeal is pending.
"We must reaffirm that incarceration does not render the fundamental rights a parchment promise," the Court said. However, it clarified that if a prisoner is facing trial in any other case, the prison authorities may reject the leave application in limine (before the trial begins).
The Court noted that the 2011 Full Bench decision had never considered the question of whether leave could be granted to a prisoner whose appeal was pending. It further noted that the issue is presently pending before the Supreme Court, which is examining the feasibility of a "Pan-India" policy on the subject. Until the Supreme Court makes a decision, the Court held that the 2025 Full Bench ruling would continue to govern the grant of leave.
The reference arose after a Division Bench of the High Court in November 2025 referred the matter to the Chief Justice for the constitution of a larger bench, noting conflicting Full Bench decisions rendered in 2011 and 2025.
The larger bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justices CV Karthikeyan, AD Jagadish Chandira, M Nirmal Kumar and Sunder Mohan appointed senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam as amicus curiae to assist the Court.
The matter was placed before the Full Bench to decide the following questions of law:
(i) Whether prisoners with pending appeals before the High Court or the Supreme Court can be granted leave under the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982?
(ii) Whether the State Government can exercise its power to exempt a prisoner from all or any of the provisions of the Rules and grant leave outside the scope of the Rules while an appeal is pending?
Answering the reference, the Court directed prison authorities to process applications for ordinary and emergency leave in accordance with the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules, 1982, and the 2025 Full Bench decision.