Kerala High Court Grants 30 Days' Interim Bail To PFI Member Sentenced To Death In BJP's Ranjith Sreenivasan Murder Case

The case relates to brutal hacking and murder of 45-year-old BJP OBC Morcha leader Advocate Ranjith Sreenivasan, in his house in Alappuzha in front of his family members, a few hours after the murder of SDPI State Secretary K.S. Shan.

In 2024, the Additional Sessions Court, Mavelikara had awarded death sentence to all 15 accused after finding them guilty of the offences under Sections 143, 147, 148, 447 and 302 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act.

The Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar noted that Navas, incarcerated in Central Prison, Poojappura, is completely bedridden and is relying on voluntary service of other inmates for daily routine activities.

It relied on the Apex Court decisions in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Admin, Shabnam v. Union of India as well as Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons, In re, which highlighted the need for human dignity of even death row convicts.

After perusing the report of the Medical Officer of the prison, the Court felt it fit to grant interim bail to Navas for a period of 30 days on conditions.

He is directed to execute a bond of Rs. 1 lakh with solvent surieties each for the like amount to the satisfaction of the Sessions Judge. The other conditions are that he shall not commit any crime on bail and that he would surrender before Superintendent, Central Prison, Poojappura, after the 30-day period.

The criminal appeal challenging the conviction and sentence as well as his sentence suspension plea are presently pending.