NT Reporter
Panaji
Deepak Surlakar, father of late Mandar Surlakar, has filed special leave petitions (SLPs) before the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the High Court’s judgment ordering the premature release of three convicts in the 2006 murder case.
In a separate SLP, Surlakar has challenged the decision of the Goa State Sentence Review Board (GSSRB) recommending the premature release of Rohan Pai Dhungat, Ryan Pinto and Shankar Tiwari. The SC has issued notices to all respondents in all
the SLPs.
In the SLP challenging the GSSRB’s decision recommending the premature release of Pai Dhungat, Pinto and Tiwari, Deepak has contended that when the Board took the decision to recommend their premature release, the three convicts were not eligible for consideration as they had not paid the fines imposed by the trial court.
The State of Goa has also separately filed petitions before the SC challenging the August 6 judgment of the High Court of Bombay at Goa ordering the premature release of Pai Dhungat, Pinto and Tiwari.
The Panaji Children’s Court, in June 2014, had convicted Pai Dhungat, Nafiyaz Sheikh, Tiwari and Pinto of murdering 17-year-old Surlakar in 2006 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. In March 2019, the High Court upheld the convictions and sentences of all the convicts.
The High Court had quashed the Goa government’s decision refusing to grant them remission, observing that the recommendation of the GSSRB supported their release after completion of the prescribed sentence. However, the court had made it clear that the three convicts could be released only after depositing all fines imposed by the trial court that remained unpaid.
The High Court had noted that the existing Goa prison rules do not provide any statutory right to victims or their family members to participate in or challenge proceedings relating to remission.
