Manu Sharmas parole still making waves Senior lawyers express disapproval

Manu Sharma, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of Jessica Lall, returned to Tihar jail on Monday, twelve days before the expiry of his parole, after the Delhi government came under severe criticism for granting parole on his sentence. Sharma’s return to Tihar has not, however, quelled the indignation of the legal community and the general public, who feel that his grounds for requesting parole were “flimsy”. The grant of parole to Sharma has also been criticized by the legal community in view of the fact that Sharma’s earlier bail application had been rejected by the Supreme Court in December 2008..Manu Sharma, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of Jessica Lall, returned to Tihar jail on Monday, twelve days before the expiry of his parole, after the Delhi government came under severe criticism for granting parole on his sentence. Sharma, who is currently serving a life sentence at Tihar Jail, was granted a 30-day parole by the Lieutanant Governor of Delhi on September 22, which was further extended till November 22, on humanitarian grounds- i.e. to look after his ailing mother, and to oversee his business interests, which were suffering due to his absence..Sharma’s return to Tihar has not, however, quelled the indignation of the legal community and the general public, who feel that his grounds for requesting parole were “flimsy”. The situation was further exacerbated by media reports of Sharma’s involvement in a brawl in actor Arjun Ramphal’s Delhi pub, LAP. Shakti Rani Sharma, his allegedly ‘ailing’ mother, was also seen hosting a press conference on the under-19 women’s cricket tournament in the family-owned Piccadilly Hotel in Chandigarh..The Delhi police has been vehemently opposing Sharma’s release on parole. Sharma’s first parole application in early September had been rejected, when the police negated Sharma’s claim that his grandmother had died by producing evidence that she had passed away in April 2008..This year, out of 132 applications for parole from prisoners in Tihar, only 11 were approved, reports the Times of India. And despite a court directive that parole applications be processed quickly, it takes more than 8-10 months to decide most cases. In many cases the delay often negates the very reason for which parole was requested. It is clear that very few convicts do manage to get parole, and Sharma was one of them. The question of parole in Delhi is further complicated by the fact that the Lieutenant-Governor and not the Director-General of police has the final say. This could lead to situations where considerations other than urgency or merit of the application could creep in, as it appears to have done in Sharma’s case..Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan has taken a strong stance against the grant of parole, asking,”Forget granting a parole, have you ever heard of people being released from jail to attend family business?” A high profile criminal lawyer, speaking to Bar & Bench on the condition of anonymity, commented, “Tomorrow convicts will ask parole to watch a cricket match or a hindi movie in a multiplex; this is absolutely ridiculous!”.The grant of parole to Sharma has also been criticized by the legal community in view of the fact that Sharma’s earlier bail application had been rejected by the Supreme Court in December 2008. His counsel Ram Jethmalani, who has also faced severe criticism for his decision to represent Sharma, had then argued before the High Court that media pressure was nailing Manu Sharma, and not the evidence before the Court. A police investigation is underway regarding Sharma’s role in the pub brawl in Delhi, and the Delhi government is currently fighting a rearguard action against allegations of nepotism in the grant of parole to Manu Sharma.