Once Gujarat said it had turned down his remission application, there was nothing left for the Supreme Court to decide on the Haren Pandya murder convict’s plea for premature release.
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New Delhi: Closing the petition of a Haren Pandya murder convict, the Supreme Court on Monday recorded the State of Gujarat’s statement that his remission application stood rejected, and left the life convict free to challenge that rejection before the Gujarat High Court [Mohammed Asgarali Mohammad Vajirali v. State of Gujarat].
The Special Leave Petitions, SLP (Crl) Nos. 15558-15559/2026, were filed by Mohammed Asgarali Mohammad Vajirali, who is serving a life sentence and had sought premature release. They were taken up by a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh.
The State’s answer
Gujarat told the Bench that it had rejected the convict’s remission application. The Bench chose not to carry the matter forward and noted that he is at liberty to take the rejection to the High Court. That Court had, in July, asked the State Government to decide his remission plea within six months.
A 2003 killing and a long road through the courts
Haren Pandya was shot dead on March 26, 2003, in Ahmedabad near Law Garden while on a morning walk. According to the CBI’s case, he was killed to avenge the 2002 riots in Gujarat.
A trial court convicted 12 people in June 2007. The Gujarat High Court acquitted all of them in 2011, describing the investigation as “botched” and “misdirected”. The Supreme Court restored the convictions and sentences in 2019.
What the order leaves open
The Supreme Court has not ruled on whether the convict deserves remission. All the order records is that the State has now reached a decision, and it sends him to the High Court to test it.
Remission for life convicts is an executive decision, and a rejection can be challenged in writ jurisdiction on grounds such as arbitrariness or non-application of the applicable policy. The Supreme Court has not examined those grounds here.
Case Title: Mohammed Asgarali Mohammad Vajirali v. State of Gujarat [SLP (Crl) Nos. 15558-15559/2026, Diary No. 46668/2026]
Bench: Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh, Supreme Court of India
Date of Order: October 12, 2026
