The Madras High Court has recommended to the State government provision of ‘A’ class facilities in the prison to Tirunelveli-based doctor J. James Sathish Kumar facing capital punishment, imposed by a trial court subject to confirmation by the High Court, for the death of neurosurgeon S.D. Subbiah who was hacked by a gang outside a private hospital at Raja Annamalaipuram in Chennai on September 14, 2013.
A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and A.A. Nakkiran made the recommendation after taking his profession into consideration. It agreed with his counsel R. John Sathyan that no provision under the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules of 1983 would stand in the way of the court recommending ‘A’ class facilities to a convict by considering his education, social status and living standards.
The judges also took note that a verdict delivered by Sessions Judge S. Alli on August 4, 2021 imposing death sentence on seven out of nine convicts in the murder case had been referred to them for confirmation under Section 366 (no death sentence shall be executed unless it gets confirmed by the High Court) of Code of Criminal Procedure and the referred trial was still pending adjudication along with appeals filed by the convicts.
