Remission plan welcome, expand it

The Union Cabinet has done well to approve a special remission scheme for some categories of prisoners in a year-long commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2 next year. The decision is in accordance with the humanitarian values Gandhiji embodied in his life and the ideals that he stood for. The scheme envisages remission of the remaining prison terms of women and transgender convicts above 55 years of age and of men above 60 years who have all completed at least half their actual sentence. Physically challenged convicts with 70% or more disability who have completed 50% of their sentence will also be released. Others who are eligible for release are terminally ill convicts and convicts who have completed two-thirds of their sentence period.

They will be released in three phases starting from October 2 this year and concluding on Gandhi Jayanti day next year. Remissions of prison terms have usually been made on special occasions like Independence Day, state formation days and on Gandhi Jayanti days, too, in the past. But the latest scheme would involve the release of a much larger number of prisoners than in the past. It will be a tribute to Gandhiji and will serve our memory of him well. We have not, for the most part, followed his ideals, and our words, deeds and conduct are more often than not at odds with much that he said, did and stood for. So, it is appropriate to make a national gesture based on forgiveness, which was an important part of his creed. The decision will also have a positive practical impact as it will help to decongest the country’s overcrowded jails.

Prisoners who have been sentenced to death, those whose death sentence has been commuted to life term and others convicted for heinous crimes will not be eligible for remission under the plan. But this is against the idea of forgiveness Gandhiji espoused. He would not have discriminated and would have looked with the same forgiving eye the man on the death row, the thief, the cheat and the trafficker. What does the government propose to do otherwise with a convict who has committed a heinous crime but has served more than half his sentence and is now terminally ill or 70% disabled? The remission must apply to all prisoners who meet the criteria of age or quantum of sentence served set for the scheme. Indeed, a great idea, in consonance with Gandhiji’s idea of non-violence, would be to declare a moratorium on death sentence for one year from October 2 this year. That would be a fitting homage to the man.