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Murder convict who became teacher sent back to jail after 40 years
A murder convict who jumped parole in 1983, secured a government teaching job, and even won a best teacher award has been ordered back to prison by the Telangana High Court. Sandela…
A murder convict who jumped parole in 1983, secured a government teaching job, and even won a best teacher award has been ordered back to prison by the Telangana High Court. Sandela Veeranna, now in his late 70s, was sentenced to life for a murder committed in the late 1970s but absconded six months into his term. He lived freely in Mahabubabad district and retired from the teaching service in 2013.
A special task force of the Telangana prisons department tracked him down in May 2024 with police help. His wife Charamma challenged his continued incarceration on medical grounds, arguing the delay made further imprisonment arbitrary. Justice T Madhavi Devi dismissed the petition, holding that Veeranna had obtained the government job by deception by concealing his criminal record.
The court also pulled up prison authorities for failing to trace him for over four decades, calling the lapse a reflection on the administration. It directed the framing of guidelines and constitution of special task forces to track prisoners released on parole. The court noted that Veeranna had been given a show-cause notice and hearing before his parole request was rejected.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Life sentences under Indian penal law typically mean imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life, though remissions and parole allow early release in many cases. The Telangana High Court's directive to frame tracking guidelines addresses a systemic gap: parole violators have often evaded capture for years without consequence. The prisons department's own special task force, set up after earlier escapes, finally located Veeranna four decades later. The court has now ordered the department to institutionalise prisoner tracking through similar task forces. Justice Madhavi Devi's observation of a systemic lapse in prison administration makes it likely the state will now have to report compliance to the court within a fixed period, which the judgment did not specify.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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