The Gujarat High Court recently denied furlough leave to Narayan Sai, son of controversial godman Asaram Bapu, due to his dangerous nature and societal impact.
A Single-judge Justice Nisha Thakore referred to the Supreme Court’s observations, which emphasized the need to balance humane treatment of convicts with the prevention of cruelty to society.
“If one who has been found guilty of an offence of rape, is released on furlough, there is no guarantee that he will not indulge in similar activity as soon as he is enlarged. None of the twin objects of punishment of imprisonment would then be served. Neither would he be reformed nor would the society remain immunised from his criminal activity. It would be dangerous to the society to release him on furlough merely out of considerations of penal reform and humane treatment,” the bench remarked.
Narayan Sai, who was arrested on December 4, 2013, in connection with a rape case, has faced various instances of release from prison since his conviction in 2019 and subsequent life imprisonment sentence. He was released on four occasions: April 2015, February 2019, December 2020, and January 2022. However, in the instant petition, he challenged the decision of the prison authorities that denied him furlough leave in February 2023.
The bench carefully considered the perspectives of both the prison authorities and the police authorities in Ahmedabad and Surat districts. The police authorities emphasized the influential nature of Sai among his followers and the potential for him to disrupt public peace and tranquility. Notably, it was highlighted that a female Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) had received threats from one of his disciples (Sadhaks), and his followers had attempted to bribe the police team investigating the case with a sum of ₹1 crore, as per his instructions.
“It has come on record that the witnesses have been threatened during trial. Several aggravating incidents have been noticed by this Court as duly reported by the authority in their report. Such incidents are spread in the span over the year 2014 onward till year 2019. Even inside the jail, he has continuously displayed lack of discipline, in fact one of the incident which is reported in his jail conduct indicates that he had led and instigated the jail inmates to protest inside the jail to fulfill their demand, which, prima-facie, goes to show the tendency of the petitioner to get evolve in coercive tactics against the jail authority,” the bench pointed out.
Such incidents did not deter the petitioner to continue with such activity.
Additionally, the court took note of a previous instance where the petitioner had presented a fraudulent medical certificate.
“The height of dis-respect towards the legal process has come on record in the form of the order passed by the Hon’ble Division Bench of this Court. This Court, by order dated 21.03.2022 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 1 of 2022 while considering the prayer for temporary bail preferred by the petitioner in pending appeal being Criminal Appeal No. 1756 of 2019, has found petitioner guilty of sheer abuse of process of court proceedings. He had placed a fake medical certificate on the record of this Court,” the order reads.
Considering the petitioner’s contemptuous behavior, the Court concluded that there was no error in the State Authority’s decision to refuse furlough.
