A 105-year-old murder convict will now be able to live out the rest of his life as a free man after the Supreme Court on Friday closed the case against him and waived the remaining period of his life sentence, taking into consideration his advanced age.
The Supreme Court had, while granting him interim relief earlier, directed that Mondal be released from custody subject to conditions imposed by the trial court. Rasik Chandra Mondal, who was born in 1920 in West Bengal’s Malda district, was convicted in a murder case in 1994. He remained in prison for nearly three decades before the Supreme Court granted him bail on November 29, 2024, according to news agency PTI . The court also made the interim bail order granted in 2024 absolute and final. With Friday’s order, the apex court has now brought the proceedings to an end and waived any remaining portion of Mondal’s life sentence, allowing the 105-year-old to remain out of custody.
The Chief Justice clarified that Mondal would not be sent back to prison even if the life sentence imposed on him had not technically come to an end.
“Having regard to the age of the petitioner, we close the case and waive the remaining sentence, if any,” the bench said while passing the order, the PTI report added. “As an interim order, we direct that the petitioner, Rasik Chandra Mondal, will be released on interim bail/parole during the pendency of the present writ petition, on terms and conditions to be fixed by the trial court,” the court had said earlier.
