Meet on release of prisoners postponed

Two weeks ago, the state home minister’s office had informed the other six board members and fixed May 24(Friday) as the next date of the meeting.

A meeting of the Sentence Review Board— to decide on the pre-mature release of over 190 prisoners, including convicts in the Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder cases — has been postponed once again.

A meeting of the Sentence Review Board— to decide on the pre-mature release of over 190 prisoners, including convicts in the Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder cases — has been postponed once again.

Two weeks ago, the state home minister’s office had informed the other six board members and fixed May 24(Friday) as the next date of the meeting.

This was to be the first meeting in eight months.

A senior home department official said that Wednesday (May 22), a message was sent to all board members from the home minister’s office regarding postponement of the meeting.

“Home minister Satyendar Jain, who is the chairperson of the board, is out of Delhi until Saturday. The meeting cannot happen without the chairperson, which is why the meeting has been postponed. The new date for the meeting is yet to be decided,” the home ministry official said.

Despite messages and calls, Jain could not be reached for a comment.

While hearing a petition by a prisoner who alleged that the board members did not meet regularly, the Delhi high court had in August last year directed that meeting of the Sentence Review Board must be held once in every three months. The last meeting was held on October 4, 2018.

Among the 190 prisoners in Delhi’sTihar jail, 15-20 are elderly prisoners; and four of them are suffering from different kinds of age-related sicknesses.

It also includes prisoners Manu Sharma, convicted of the murder of Jessica Lal, and Santosh Singh, convicted in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case.