Madras High Court Rules Life Convicts Can Take Annual Leave in Two Parts

Life convicts who have finished 14 years in jail can take their 40 days of ordinary leave in two parts every year. The Madras High Court ruled that prison authorities cannot force prisoners to take all 40 days of leave at one time.

The Legal Issue

Justices Anita Sumanth and Sunder Mohan gave this order while hearing a petition filed by life convict S. Babu. Prison officials had denied him 14 days of leave because he had already taken 26 days of leave in April 2026. Officials told him he must wait until April 2027 to take more leave. The court found this happened because of confusing wording in the Tamil Nadu Suspension of Sentence Rules of 1982. Both Rule 22(2)(c) and Rule 22(3) used the word 'spell', which made prison authorities wrongly think the full leave must be taken in one go.

Court Directives

The judges ordered that the word 'spell' in the first rule must now be read as 'instalment' to make it different from the other rule. Under the new ruling, a prisoner can take the 40 days of leave in two parts within one year from the first day of their first leave. Their next year of leave will start one year after the last day of their second leave part.

Past Absconding

Prison officials also argued against giving leave because the petitioner had spent years absconding in the past. Government counsel C.R. Malarvanan told the court that the petitioner, who has spent 18 years in jail, absconded in 1997 and again between 2004 and 2014 when he was out on leave. However, the bench noted they already ruled in June that absconding does not stop a convict from getting leave five years after that offense. The court also noted a trial court on July 2, 2026, gave him two extra months in jail for escaping, and he has already finished serving that short sentence.

Context

Prison leave rules in India are designed to help long-term prisoners keep ties with their families and society. Courts sometimes have to step in to clarify old legal wording when prison departments and inmates disagree on how rules should work in daily practice.