Born in 1920 when Congress had launched the non-cooperation movement against the British, Rasik Mandal got his freedom as a 105-year-old life convict Friday after SC ordered the centenarian should spend his remaining days with his family. He was convicted in 1994 for a 1988 murder. On Friday, the bench first asked: “Is he alive? Why should he not be released permanently? Why should he be on interim parole?”Born in a nondescript village of Malda district, Rasik Chandra was arrested in 1988 for murder at the age of 68, and convicted in Dec 1994.His appeal against conviction was dismissed by Calcutta HC in 2018, after 24 years, and Supreme Court rejected his appeal in 2019.Serving a life sentence, he was shifted to a correctional home at Balurghat in West Bengal from prison due to age-related ailments. Mandal, through his son, had filed a writ petition in SC in 2020, when he was just short of the century-mark, seeking premature release on ground of age and related ailments. On Nov 29, 2024, SC admitted Mandal’s petition and directed his release “on interim bail/parole in the case lodged on Nov 9, 1988, at Manikchak police station in WB’s Malda”.
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On Friday, as the Supreme Court bench wondered why he should not be released, the West Bengal counsel said the court could direct that he would not be incarcerated any longer. “Having regard to his age, we see no reason not to release him. We allow his writ petition while making the Nov 29, 2024, order absolute. He is permanently released from jail for the purpose of this case,” the apex court said.
