- (1.) THE petitioner-convict, said to be the resident of village Badhsa, Tehsil Bahadurgarh, District Jhajjar, (Haryana), has sent this letter petition seeking orders for his transfer to Open Air Camp. The petitioner has, inter alia, submitted that he is serving the sentence for last about 11 1/2 years with good conduct; that he had availed two paroles in the past without any cause of complaint; and that he has otherwise lost his identity in the society with long imprisonment for 11 1/2 years and wants to re-settle himself in the main stream of the society.
(2.) THE respondents have submitted in their reply that the petitioner-prisoner was convicted, inter alia, for the offences under Sections 302, 394 and 397 IPC as also under Section /25 of the Arms Act and was awarded varying sentences, including that of life imprisonment. The respondents have also submitted that as on 21.03.2013, the period of serving by the petitioner comes to 12 years 5 months and 6 days inclusive of remissions. However, with reference to Rule 3 of the Rajasthan Prisoners Open Air Camp Rules, 1972, the respondents have suggested that the petitioner suffers from ineligibility per Clause (a) thereof for being the resident of a State outside Rajasthan. It has also been suggested that the conduct of the petitioner has not been satisfactory inasmuch as he has been punished 8 times with jail punishments. The respondents have also submitted in their reply that the petitioner-prisoner has not preferred any application for transfer to Open Air Camp and has directly approached this Court by way of this letter petition; and hence, the petition is liable to be rejected. 3. So far the suggestions about ineligibility per Rule 3 are concerned, this Court has, time and again, pointed out that such ineligibility is conditioned by the expression "ordinarily", as occurring in Rule 3; it has been held that an exceptional case if made out, could still be considered for transfer to Open Air Camp even if the prisoner otherwise falls within any clause of Rule 3.
(3.) IN the present matter, where the petitioner-prisoner has not made any such application before the authorities concerned, obvious it is that the authorities were not having the opportunity to objectively examine his case before reaching to a final conclusion as to whether any such circumstance exists wherefor his transfer to Open Air Camp;