'Hanging better than jail till death'; not convict's right: SC

New Delhi: "You want your sentence to be changed to hanging" - the Supreme Court asked on Wednesday as Swamy Shraddananda, who is incarcerated for 30 years for killing his wife and has pleaded for release, said that the imprisonment till death awarded to him is far worse than the capital punishment.

The Shraddananda alias Murali Manohar Mishra, 84, whose wife was the grand-daughter of a former Dewan of the princely state of Mysore, sought the relief, saying he has been in "continuous incarceration" without any parole or remission and nothing adverse has been reported against him during his stay in jail.

Shakereh, the wife of Shraddananda, was the grand daughter of Sir Mirza Ismail. They got married in April 1986 and Shakereh suddenly disappeared by the end of May 1991. It had also noted that in March 1994, the Central Crime Branch, Bengaluru, took over the investigation of the complaint about 'missing' Shakereh and under intense interrogation, Shraddananda broke down and owned up to having killed her.

A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai, which dismissed his writ petition seeking release from jail, however, agreed to hear his separate plea seeking review of the apex court's July 2008 verdict which had directed that he shall not be released from prison till rest of his life. During the arguments on his fresh writ petition, Shraddananda's counsel referred to the orders directing the premature release of some convicts who were serving life terms in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. "I (Shraddananda) am 84-year-old and I am in 30 years of continuous incarceration," the counsel said, adding, "It may be worse than the death sentence".

The lawyer argued that it was more of torture. The argument seeking release went to the extent where the lawyer vehemently said that even a death penalty could be better than this kind of life imprisonment. "You want this to be changed to hanging?" the bench, also comprising Justices P K Mishra and K V Viswanathan, retorted. His lawyer said if possible "hanging could be a better situation for the convict as on date". "Have you spoken to your client?" the bench asked. The lawyer responded, "I have not spoken to him".