Navarasu murder: HC grants bail to John David

Navarasu murder: HC grants bail to John David 

Sureshkumar.k@timesofindia.com 22.10.2024

Chennai : More than 26 years after a medical student, John David, was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for killing and chopping off his junior Pon Navarasu at Annamalai University, Madras high court granted bail to him till his plea for premature release is decided by the state govt. It was in 1996 that Navarasu was murdered on the university campus. On March 11, 1998, a trial court convicted John David and awarded him imprisonment for life. However, the high court acquitted him in 2001. 

On a state appeal, Supreme Court reversed the high court order and confirmed life imprisonment for him in 2011. His mother T Esther filed the present plea in the high court after Tamil Nadu govt on May 8, rejected his plea for premature release from jail. A division bench of Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice V Sivagnanam quashed a govt order rejecting his premature release application and ordered its reconsideration. In the meanwhile, he shall be released on bail, said the bench.

According to Esther, her son John David was convicted and sentenced to life im prisonment for the murder of Navarasu in 1998 by a trial court order dated Mar 11, 1998. After completing over 21 years of imprisonment, he applied for premature release under a GO order dated Aug 11, 2023, proposed by the state for lifers who completed 14 years in jail. However, prison department rejected his application. She then moved the court saying the rejection order was unjust and untenable before the law. The authorities did not take into consideration that the petitioner completed 16 years of imprisonment as of Sep 15, 2023, and was eligible for premature release. “The authorities, without considering the long years of incarceration, simply rejected the application for premature release and stated a tailor-made reason without application of mind,” she said. 

The authorities failed to consider that during the period between his acquittal and conviction by the Supreme Court, he was working in a software company with four promotions. There was not even a single bad remark, and hence there is no purpose in keeping him in prison any longer, she said.