JUDGMENT :

S. RAVINDRA BHAT, J.

1. The petitioner, currently serving a life imprisonment sentence for a crime committed in 1996, punishable under Sections 302 and 392 of the Indian Penal Code (hereafter “IPC”) approaches this court seeking to enforce his right under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. He seeks appropriate direction to the state government, to prematurely release him, having been in custody (i.e., actual imprisonment) for over 26 years, and served a sentence of over 35 years (including over 8 years of remission earned).

Facts and background

2. It was alleged that on 16.09.1994, the petitioner had gone to his sister-in-law’s (the deceased victim) place of work, and on the false pretext that her mother was seriously ill and had been admitted to the hospital, taken her away with the permission of the in-charge of the convent where she worked. The prosecution case was that he had her walk along the railway line and at a desolate place, allegedly raped and robbed her of the ornaments she was wearing, before laying her on the tracks to be runover by a passing train.

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