Guv rejects State's plea to release 593 prisoners on I-Day

The Governor has rejected the proposal for the third time. The State Government had sent the proposal to release the convicts on Independence Day on the grounds of good conduct. The Governor returned the file to the Home Department on Wednesday.

Bhardwaj had rejected the proposal twice earlier directing the Government to submit individual case details and copies of judgements of trial courts of each convict, whose names were recommended for release. According to official sources in Raj Bhavan, the Government sent back more or less the same proposal. “The copies of trial court judgements in cases of murder run into hundreds of pages. Whereas the government sent only two-three pages,” the source said.

The Supreme Court has said that life sentence is meant as ‘sentence till death’. However, names of those convicts who completed 14 years of imprisonment can be considered for release under Article 161 of the Constitution. But the proposal sent by the Government does not fulfil these conditions.

“All women convicts, whose names were recommended for release, have completed only five years of their term. And men have completed seven years. Moreover, there were no details to prove their conduct in prison,” the sources added.

The government recommended the names for release on the grounds that they hailed from poor backgrounds and had to take care of their families. “The court’s directions are clear. It wants the Government to consider the overall impact of the release of convicts on the society and particularly the families, before making recommendations. However, the government has not considered these issues in its proposal,” the sources added.