Devil’s Advocate continues ………….

With his consistent record of good behaviour he had won the confidence of the jail staff, so much so that he had begun to assist them in running the jail. He had educated himself in prison and had acquired a graduate degree, following which he was teaching others. He had gone out on parole and furloughs umpteen times and had always returned on schedule with no complaints from anyone. Additionally, I argued, Manjeet had undergone nineteen years of rigorous imprisonment for his crime and no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody. I went on to say that I was convinced that he was fully reformed and deserved a chance to live his life with his family, like a normal citizen.

I do not consider myself an orator and public speaking has never been my strong suit. But that afternoon, pleading the case of a convicted murderer before the Sentence Review Board, I felt as though someone else was speaking in my voice. Perhaps it was Gurcharan Singh himself who had pardoned his killer and wished to set him free.

I am not sure whether every member of the review board agreed with me, but each one of them heard me out patiently. After my brief submission, the CM said, ‘We have heard a completely new perspective concerning the convict. If the director general of prisons himself feels that the convict is reformed, we should go by his judgment. The convict should be shown mercy and his remaining sentence should be commuted.’ No one dissented once the CM had given her verdict. It gave me happiness to know that my argument would set a man doomed to die within the confines of jail free. The government order commuting Manjeet’s sentence arrived at the jail a few days later. One morning, the superintendent of jail number two informed me that Manjeet had requested a meeting with me before his release the following day. I agreed to meet him one last time.

To be Continued ………….