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Ahmedabad: After spending 15 years in jail away from each other, a couple serving a life sentence for murder has been granted a parole by the Gujarat High Court to try and have a child through IVF treatment. Jayendra Damor and Sejal Bariya, convicted of murdering Bariya’s former boyfriend in 2010, have been allowed extended parole to undergo in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The court described their request as one that needed “sympathetic consideration.”
Both are serving life sentences in separate prisons but have now been released on parole until November 2. The Godhra district court had convicted the two in 2013 for killing Pinakin Patel. According to the case, Bariya’s former boyfriend continued to trouble her after their breakup, leading her and Damor to plan a meeting with him at a guesthouse in Pavagadh, where he was killed. At that time, Bariya was a student at a PTC college in Rajkot and in a relationship with Damor.
Now in their late thirties, the couple told the court that they wish to have a child through IVF. In 2023, Bariya was released on parole for infertility treatment and started medical consultations with a gynaecologist in Dahod. Based on her medical reports, Damor also applied for parole, saying that his presence was necessary for the treatment.
On October 16, the Gujarat High Court allowed Damor temporary parole so he could accompany Bariya for the IVF procedure. When they appeared before the court again on October 28, Justice HD Suthar decided to extend their parole. “Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, the request is partly allowed, and the parole period already granted is extended up to November 2 on the same terms and conditions,” the court said.
However, the court also made it clear that no further leniency would be shown. “The applicant shall surrender before the concerned jail authority immediately after the aforesaid period is over,” the order stated. The case stands out as one of the few instances in which the judiciary has permitted convicts serving life imprisonment to pursue parenthood through medical assistance while still under sentence.
