Kerala HC denies parole to TP Chandrasekharan murder convict Jyothy Babu

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking emergency leave for Jyothy Babu, a convict in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case, to attend the funeral of a relative. The court said that “unwarranted leniency in matters relating to emergency leave or parole would be undesirable,” considering the seriousness of the offence.

Jyothy Babu, who is lodged at the Central Prison and Correctional Home in Kannur, had sought a 10-day emergency leave from December 29. The petition, filed by his wife, stated that Babu’s nephew died on December 28 and claimed that he was the only elder male member of the family available to perform the last rites. A representation in this regard had earlier been submitted to the jail superintendent.

The government pleader opposed the request, arguing that the relationship between the convict and the deceased was not sufficiently close to merit emergency leave. Accepting this contention, the court observed that the deceased was the son of Babu’s paternal uncle and that the relationship lacked the proximity required to justify such a concession.

Jyothy Babu was the 12th accused in the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T P Chandrasekharan, who was hacked to death at Onchiyam in Kozhikode on May 4, 2012. In 2016, a Special Additional Sessions Court in Kozhikode had acquitted Babu and 24 others, while sentencing 10 accused to life imprisonment, a verdict later upheld by the High Court.

However, in 2024, the Kerala High Court convicted Jyothy Babu and another accused, K K Krishnan, under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.