Convicted for his uncle’s murder 11 years ago, an ex-convict has now dedicated his life to saving lives and supporting the needy.
A Sukumaran, a resident of Pattambi in Kerala’s Palakkad district, had been arrested for killing his uncle in a fit of rage, following a dispute regarding a mobile tower near their homes, The Indian Express reported. After committing the act he had called up the police himself, and confessed to the crime.
“The moment my uncle Vasu’s blood fell on me, I felt guilty. I called the police and waited till they came,” he told the newspaper.
To “try and atone for his sins”, he had decided to donate his organs to those in need. Earlier this year, he had donated one of his kidneys to a woman, and saved her life. He also mobilised money to help the ill wife of a former fellow prisoner to receive medical treatment.
Convinced Kerala Govt to Allow Inmates to Donate Organs
Following the murder of his uncle in 2007, the Palakkad district sessions court had sentenced Sukumaran to life imprisonment on 28 October 2010, The Indian Express reported.
He was put behind bars in Kannur central jail, where in December 2014, he first read a report about a couple, Arya Maharshi and Simi from Thrissur, who had donated their kidneys to ailing patients who were not related to them. Inspired by the idea and with the help of the jail’s welfare officer, he wrote to Maharshi, telling him of his desire to donate his kidney.
Following a visit from the couple, he learnt of a a 26-year-old named TV Sreekumar, who was suffering from a kidney ailment. He wrote to the authorities telling them that he wished to donate his kidney, the report added.
However, the Prisons Department of Kerala replied that there was no rule that allows a prisoner to donate an organ.
Meanwhile, Sreekumar passed away due to the ailment.
Disappointed, but not one to give up, Sukumaran wrote to the authorities again, and in this letter addressed the then chief minister Oommen Chandy and the then home minister Ramesh Chennithala.
Upon his insistence, his request was transferred to the Law Department which, in July 2015, said that there was no reason why a convict could not donate his or her organs. In 2016, the state government issued a new legislation which allowed inmates to donate their organs, The Indian Express reported.
Meanwhile, Sukumaran had moved the Kerala High Court against his life sentence, after which the latter, in October 2015, reduced his sentence to ten years and transferred him to the open jail in Thiruvananthapuram.
Due to good conduct, Sukumaran was released in July 2017, following which he went straight to the Santhi Medical Information Centre in Guruvayur and found out about Princy Thankachan, a 21-year-old, who had been undergoing dialysis for five years, the report added.
Not only did he offer to donate his kidney to her, he also helped raise money for the surgery through crowd-funding. The transplant was successful, and completed earlier this year.
In the meantime, he had found out that another former convict, Basheer, who he was with in jail, had passed away in 2017, leaving behind an ailing wife and a four-year-old son. Estranged from his own family, he decided to take Basheer’s wife Samitha and her son under his wing, and raised enough resources to help her procure medical care, the newspaper stated.
The couple are set to tie the knot soon.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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