The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to 97 life term convicts who have undergone more than 20 years of sentence in Agra and Varanasi jails.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh government in three weeks as advocate Rishi Malhotra, representing the petitioners, contended that not releasing the prisoners was a violation of the 2018 policy and it was akin to subjecting the prisoners to illegal detention.
"Since the petitioners have been in jail for over 20 years, they shall be released on ad interim bail subject to the terms and conditions to be imposed by the trial court to its satisfaction,” the bench said.
The petitioners had argued that according to the 2018 state government policy, which was framed under Article 161 of the Constitution, they were entitled to be released. However, in July 2021, the state government amended the policy, restricting its benefits to those who had attained an age of 60 years.
The petitioners claimed the amendment defeated the rights of the convicts even though they have already undergone more than the required period of their sentence as stipulated in the 2018 policy.
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