Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court is learnt to have urged the state government to consider the premature release of a convict in the Bowbazar blast case of 1993. The court is learnt to have ordered the West Bengal Sentence Review Board (SRB) to consider the premature release of Md. Khalid, a terrorist who has been in jail for the last 31 years after being convicted in the infamous Bowbazar bomb blast case of 1993.
The Superintendent of Medinipur Central Correctional Home and the Chief Probation-cum-after-care Officer are learnt to have recommended the premature release of Khalid based on his ‘good conduct’ in prison.
The order of the Single bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya read: “What is evident from such reports is that the petitioner has been reformed beyond recognition over the last three decades in incarceration. It would be an unwarranted stigma on the petitioner if the shadow of his past is permitted to loom large over his present.
It cannot be over-emphasised that the primary object in modern penology is reformation and correction and the objective of punishment is to reform the convict and bring him back to society, assisting him in reintegration and not to wreak vengeance on him due to his past conduct”. It was cited in court that Md Khalid was a close aide of Rashid Khan, who was the mastermind of the blasts, which claimed the lives of at least 69 persons. However, Justice Bhattacharyya is learnt to have opined that the association of the petitioner with a criminal mastermind thirty-one years back cannot be a reasonable basis for assuming that the petitioner would again indulge in criminal activities when released.
The petitioner Md Khalid moved court after the SRB refused to entertain his representation primarily on the ground that he was a close associate of Rashid Khan, who was the mastermind of the bomb blast. The court observed: “Not only will such an act contribute another reformed citizen to the mainstream society, the same will set a good precedent for other convicts in prison to attempt emulation and shall act as a deterrent for them to be less than perfect in their
conduct in prison.”