Gujarat HC revokes remission of TADA convict in Cong MLA's 1989 murder; calls relief as 'illegal'

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has revoked the release on remission of a TADA convict, sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1989 murder of Congress MLA, calling the relief as "illegal and without any authority of law", and ordered him to surrender within two weeks. A bench of Justice Hasmukh Suthar gave the direction to Aniruddhsinh Jadeja, serving life sentence and also convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for the murder of the then Congress MLA from Gondal seat, Popat Sorathiya, before his release on remission in 2018. In its verdict passed on Friday, the court said the then Additional Director General of Police (Prison Reforms and Administration), T S Bisht, gave Jadeja the benefit of pardon without any authority, and that his order was "erroneous and contrary to law" as well as suffered from an "inherent lack of jurisdiction".

It directed the state government to consider his case for grant of benefit of remission following parameters fixed by the Supreme Court and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) within a period of eight weeks from the date of his surrender. As per the case details, Sorathiya was shot dead by Jadeja when he was unfurling the national flag at a school on the Independence Day in 1989. An FIR was registered and a special judge at Rajkot appointed under the TADA acquitted him after 45 witnesses turned hostile. The state government filed an appeal under section 19 of the TADA before the Supreme Court, which was partly allowed by a judgment dated July 10, 1997. Jadeja was convicted for the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was also convicted for offence under the TADA and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. However, he absconded and was taken into custody after nearly three years. In 2017, he used the pretext of medical treatment to conduct and attend political rallies for assembly elections, an issue raised in a petition before the HC, which sought an inquiry into how a TADA convict was addressing political rallies.

The high court closed the proceedings while allowing the petitioner to seek appropriate remedy, if needed, but till date no action was taken. On January 25, 2017, the state government issued a resolution granting remission to certain convicts, including those serving life sentences who had completed 12 years (in prison). The resolution contained conditions for grant of remission. The case of Jadeja was not considered at that point and he was not granted the benefit of remission. Jadeja's son submitted an application on January 29, 2018 to the then ADGP (Jail and Administrative Reforms), who on the same day directed the Superintendent of the Junagadh district jail to grant him remission citing reason that he has completed 18 years of sentence. His "illegal release" was challenged by way of two petitions, one of which was dismissed for want of prosecution and the other one was withdrawn. Since his release in 2018, three FIRs were registered against Jadeja, and even a plea filed in 2024 before the Supreme Court challenging his premature release was withdrawn with liberty to file a fresh petition before this court.