HC orders fresh look at hijack convict's early release plea

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court has granted relief to a man denied premature release while serving a life term for hijacking an Indian Airlines flight in 1993, saying his conduct in jail bore signs of reformation.

A single judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula set aside a decision of a Sentence Review Board (SRB) against Hari Singh and asked it to consider his case afresh within eight weeks.

"Petitioner's conduct in jail does indicate elements of reformation as even over a long period of incarceration (almost 18 years of actual imprisonment), there is no record of any untoward incident which would indicate that the petitioner still harbours elements of criminality," Justice Narula said in his recent order.

According to the prosecution, Singh hijacked the plane because he was not happy with riots that year in the aftermath of Babri Masjid's razing in Dec 1992. He was convicted by a trial court in 2001 under Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982 and several IPC sections. His appeal was rejected by the HC in 2011. His Supreme Court plea was withdrawn.

Singh told the HC that his name was periodically taken up for consideration of premature release by SRB, but rejected on grounds of gravity of his offence. Justice Narula held that SRB's reasons to reject Singh's plea were inadequate and did not meet standards of reasonable justification necessary for an executive authority's order.