SC directs high courts to provide data on convicts eligible for early release
Premature release of convicts: Three lawyers carried out the study on pending jail petitions by convicts, criminal appeals in high courts and remission pleas for premature release pending with state governments.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all high courts in the country to segregate criminal appeals filed by life convicts and other convicts along with the period of their incarceration to enable a uniform approach on early release of prisoners found languishing in jail without bail or remission for a sustained period.
The order came on a suggestion of three lawyers assisting the top court as amicus curiae who examined the position in high courts of Delhi and Chhattisgarh where such an exercise was successfully conducted by the respective legal service committees.
The three lawyers, Gaurav Agrawal, Devansh Mohta and Liz Mathew, carried out the study on pending jail petitions, criminal appeals in high courts and remission pleas for premature release under consideration with state governments.
In Delhi High Court, 232 appeals were pending where the prison sentence ranged from three to 20 years. Another 129 appeals from convicts serving life sentences were pending. In Chhattisgarh high court, the pendency was divided into two categories – 1,162 appeals where the sentence is up to 10 years and 2,878 appeals where the sentence is above 10 years.
Impressed by the work done by the two high courts, the bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh ordered a similar exercise to be undertaken by the legal service committees of all high courts. It further directed the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to circulate this order and monitor the exercise in each high court.
As for Delhi and Chhattisgarh, the court asked the respective legal service committees to identify appeals where the prisoner has undergone more than half the period of actual punishment and above eight years in case of prisoners serving a life term.
The court also directed the legal service committees to explore if convicts who have undergone a substantial amount of their sentence are agreeable to withdraw their appeal from the high court and get released. This, however, will be voluntary and will not affect the prisoner’s right to file an appeal, the bench clarified.
A similar exercise could be undertaken for life convicts seeking premature release or remission after crossing the threshold sentence required for consideration under the respective state policies.
Agrawal pointed out that a similar exercise had also been undertaken for 300 jail petitions pending in the Supreme Court. Since no cooperation was forthcoming from SC Legal Services Committee, the court directed the court registry to find out the status of convicts who filed jail petitions – whether they are still in custody or released on bail. The bench further directed NALSA to examine cases where convicts are eligible for premature release or bail in cases where a substantial period of the sentence was over.
About remission cases, advocate Liz Mathew said the NALSA scheme for time-bound disposal of remission requests was rolled out in three states, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, by July 7 order. While Chhattisgarh assured that the remission received till August 1 will be decided before February 2022, no information was forthcoming from UP. The Bihar government filed a late response that could not be considered by the court.
The bench directed UP to provide details of pending remission pleas within a month or else said it will summon the state chief secretary in the matter. The court posted the matter for further hearing in February next year.
The court orders came on a petition filed by one Sonadhar who had undergone 14 years imprisonment but had to wait for three years for his remission to get decided. The court directed NALSA to study the pendency position across the country in the context of remission applicants and discovered over 1,649 prisoners were languishing in prison awaiting an order on their remission petition for premature release.
NALSA informed the court that the delay was due to the absence of a deadline to decide the remission pleas. The court directed NALSA to consider a timeframe and on July 7 implemented it initially in three states as a pilot project. This required states to identify and collect data about eligible prisoners within three months, recommendation by Sentence Review Board within next three months and two months for the state government to issue final orders.
From November this year, the court directed NALSA to roll out the scheme in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
