SC judge urges PM to release an old Pak murder convict, BJP finds it odd

New Delhi, Jun 17 (PTI) Supreme Court judge Justice
Markandeya Katju has made a personal appeal to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to release on "humanitarian grounds" Khalil
Chishty, an elderly Pakistani virologist in Indian prison
since 1992.
The move by the judge did not appear to go down well
with the main opposition party BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)
which found as "odd" the appeal to free 80-year-old Chishty, a
murder convict.
"It is odd that an SC judge is writing to the PM for
securing the release of a Pakistani prisoner, even in his
individual capacity," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Katju expressed the fear that if Chishty is not
released forthwith, he may die in the jail by the time his
appeal is decided by the Rajasthan High Court.
In an e-mail sent to the Prime Minister through Member
of Parliament Rajiv Shukla, Justice Katju said Singh should
grant pardon to Chishty under Article 72 which empowers the
President to sanction pardon or remission for convicts.
"It will be a disgrace four our country if he(Chishty)
dies in jail...if a pardon is granted it will enhance the
prestige of India," the judge said.
In an unprecedented step earlier this year, Justice
Katju, who was heading a Bench, passed an order, on a writ
petition, requesting Pakistani authorities to consider the
appeal of Indian prisoner Gopal Dass and release him on
humanitarian grounds by remitting his jail term.
In 2010, Chishty was awarded life sentence under 302
IPC in a murder case by a sessions court in Rajasthan after an
18-year trial. He had filed an appeal in the high court but
his bail plea had been rejected.
During the trial period, the sessions court while
granting him bail had ordered Chishty not to leave Ajmer. He
was re-arrested after his conviction.

In his letter, Justice Katju said, "I am making this
appeal to you not as a Supreme Court judge, but as a human
being, requesting for release of Dr Khalil Chishty, a
Pakistani national, who is old and infirm and (is) in Ajmer
jail, on humanitarian grounds under Article 72 of the
Constitution."
Chishty, who was an eminent Professor of Virology in
Karachi Medical College, holds a PhD from Edinburgh
University.
During a visit to Ajmer in 1992 to meet his ailing
mother, there was a dispute between his family in Ajmer and
certain others in which a person was killed following which
Chishty was also arrested.
Referring to Chishty's appeal in the high court,
Justice Katju said, "One does not know when the appeal will be
heard, and in the meantime Dr Chishty may die in jail since he
is so old that he has to be physically carried.
"He is also a heart patient and has (suffered) a hip
fracture. It will be a disgrace for our country if he dies in
jail."
The apex court judge, however, cautioned that he was not
commenting anything on the merits of the case as it is a
judicial proceeding.
"However, apart from the judicial proceeding there is
executive power in the President and the Governor to grant
pardon," the judge said.
According to Justice Katju, eminent film
producer/director Mahesh Bhat and others have already appealed
to the President under Article 72 of the Constitution, as well
as to the Governor of Rajasthan under Article 161 to grant a
pardon, so that he may spend the last days of his life in his
home in Karachi.
"I join them in this appeal. The relevant papers are with
Home Minister P Chidambaram," he said.