PUNE: The authorities of Yerwada Central Prison have submitted ‘behaviour’ report of former Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) driver Santosh Mane to Supreme Court on Thursday, stating that his behavior had been ‘normal’ from the past six year in prison.
A three-member SC bench had sought a report from the jail authorities about Mane’s behaviour during jail stay and his medical record to decide on the ‘mentally unsound’ argument put forth by the defence lawyer.
On December 6, a bench of Justice AK Sikri, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer directed the government pleaders to obtain a report from Yerwada Prison to know how Mane has behaved during his jail days. “We would like to find out as to how the petitioner behaved after his arrest, in jail during the intervening period from 2012 till date,” the bench said.
The driver, now 47, had appealed to Supreme Court against his conviction, with his lawyers arguing that he should be given benefit under Section 84 of Indian Penal Code, which grants immunity to a person who “commits a crime while being in a state of unsound mind thereby not knowing the nature of the act.”
On January 25, 2012, Mane had hijacked a bus and went on a rampage mowing down dozens of people and killing nine. In 2013, a Sessions Court had sentenced Mane to death terming his crime as “rarest of rare”. In September 2014, Bombay High Court had confirmed the death penalty and had rejected the defence argument that he had committed the crime while in mentally unsound condition.
On Thursday, advocate Deepa M Kulkarni, who represented Government of Maharashtra, told the bench that she has received a report from the Superintendent of Yerwada Central Prison and behaviour of Mane has been normal throughout the period he was lodged in the prison.
“After hearing the council for the parties, we are of the opinion that the learned counsel for the appellant should visit the jail where the appellant is lodged and have a meeting with him along with the local counsel,” directed the bench.
Mane’s defence lawyers are relying on two reports by doctors at Sassoon General Hospital and Yerawada Regional Hospital, which talks about ‘hallucinations’ that Mane complained about as well as ‘possibility of psychiatric illness’. The first report based on examination conducted on the day of the incident observed that Mane needed psychiatric observation. The second report submitted by a panel of psychiatrists from Yerawada Mental Hospital after 10 days of observation maintained “possibility of a psychiatric illness couldn’t be ruled out.”
