JESSICA KILLER ON PAROLE FOR TWO MONTHS.

Outrage over chief minister Sheila Dikshit's favour to murder convict Manu Sharma on flimsy grounds

CHIEF minister Sheila Dikshit's recommendation to the Lt- Governor that Jessica Lall's killer, and Congress leader Venod Sharma's son, Manu Sharma, be granted parole has come under fire from the legal community and the family of the murdered model.

The parole has become an issue in the wake of reports that Manu Sharma, who is serving a life sentence at Tihar Jail, was spotted at Samrat Hotel's elite nightclub, LAP, in the wee hours of Friday/ Saturday. The chief minister's recommendation has also come under the public scanner.

As reported by this newspaper on Sunday, Lt- Governor Tejendra Khanna's officer on special duty confirmed the recommendation for the 30- days parole -- extended subsequently by another 30 days till November 22 -- came from Dikshit. The grounds cited in Manu Sharma's favour were that his mother was seriously ill and he had to attend to family business matters.

Manu Sharma's mother, Shakti Rani Sharma, may not be as ill as she is made out to be. On Saturday, within hours of Manu Sharma being spotted at LAP, his mother was briefing the media at Chandigarh's Piccadilly Hotel on a national under- 19 women's cricket tournament.

The tournament, which kicked off on Sunday, is being organised by the Chandigarh Women's Cricket Association. Shakti Sharma is the association's general secretary.

The report spurred Supreme Court senior advocate Prashant Bhushan to demand that the parole be immediately cancelled.

Another senior Supreme Court advocate, Kamini Jaiswal, pointed out that murder convicts rarely get extended parole, especially when the grounds are as " flimsy" as the ones offered by Manu Sharma.

" Usually, parole is granted in case someone's wife is seriously ill or a near and dear one has passed away," Jaiswal said. " Even when inmates are themselves sick, they are admitted to a hospital either inside the jail or outside, but they are rarely let out on parole. Even in such cases, paroles usually last for a fortnight, or maybe a month." Significantly, even a Tihar Jail official, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed that parole was granted only in rare cases on the grounds cited for Manu Sharma.

A senior jurist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the " competent authorities" who had recommended the parole should have " at least given regard" to the Supreme Court order rejecting Manu Sharma's bail application on similar grounds last year.

A bench headed by Justice C. K. Thakker had ruled, " Keeping in view the seriousness of offence, the manner in which the crime was said to have been committed and the gravity of offence, we are of the view that no case has been made out by the applicant appellant for suspension of sentence and grant of bail." Dikshit was not available for comment.

Alka Diwan, additional secretary in the chief minister's secretariat, said the government's home department had originally recommended parole for Manu Sharma for a longer duration, but Dikshit had pared it down to a month and then forwarded the proposal to the Lt- Governor.

Diwan claimed that she could not recall the grounds on which the parole had been granted. Parole is granted under Section 432 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which entitles the constitutional head of a state -- the Lt- Governor in the case of Delhi -- to let out a convict from jail for a limited period to attend to an urgent personal matter. It is different from bail, which effectively suspends a prisoner's sentence during the trial, on the condition that he or she'll cooperate in police investigations and judicial proceedings.

Legal experts, though, are questioning the chief minister's recommendation itself. " Running a family business is absolutely no ground to even ask for parole," Prashant Bhushan said. " It is granted only for specific purposes, say for father's cremation or an equally serious matter." Interestingly, prisoners lodged in Tihar Jail have petitioned the Delhi High Court for transparency in the process of granting parole. In their petition filed three months ago, they have alleged that parole is granted only to influential prisoners.

Responding to the petition, Delhi government's home department has admitted in an affidavit that only 25 per cent of parole applications are approved.

Jessica Lall's sister, Sabrina, was concerned about the misuse of the provision of parole. " There is nothing wrong with the system but we believe that in this case there has been a complete misuse of the freedom the law has granted to convicts," she said. " The system needs to wake up and see what's going on. Manu Sharma is a convicted criminal who has committed a serious crime. Granting parole to him makes a mockery of the very public fight we've had to wage for justice." With Manu Sharma's parole getting embroiled in an erupting controversy, there seems to be no end in sight to the fight for justice for Jessica Lall.

With inputs from Archana in New Delhi SC had rejected Manu's bail plea on similar grounds

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