Kannur: CPM leader P Jayarajan on Tuesday justified the parole granted to Kodi Suni, a convict in the 2012 murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T P Chandrasekharan. He emphasised that prisons function as reform centres and that parole can be extended even to those convicted of serious crimes.

Responding to criticism over the decision, Jayarajan explained that Suni’s parole was granted following a complaint from his mother to the Human Rights Commission. Acting on the commission’s directive, the prison department approved a 30-day parole on humanitarian grounds, reported PTI.

In a Facebook post, Jayarajan stated that as a member of the Kannur Central Jail advisory committee, he had consistently advocated for parole decisions without considering the political affiliations of prisoners. He pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, several prisoners, including life convicts, were granted extended paroles based on human rights considerations, some even following a Supreme Court directive. However, Suni was notably excluded from such provisions during that period.

"Granting parole after six years based on a mother's appeal is neither unprecedented nor a crime," he said, adding that the principle of prisons as reformative spaces justifies such decisions, even in cases involving severe crimes.

The parole decision has triggered political controversy, with the opposition UDF accusing the Left government of undermining the legal system and the rule of law. T P Chandrasekharan, a prominent RMP leader, was brutally murdered on May 4, 2012, in Onchiyam, Kozhikode, by a gang of assailants. The CPM has faced allegations of conspiracy in the high-profile case.