The Hindu : Kerala News : 300 life convicts may be released early

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 28, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

300 life convicts may be released early

By M. Harish Govind

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 27. The State Prison Review Committee is considering a list of 300-odd life convicts who have completed eight years in prison for their premature release on the basis of a set of guidelines aimed at making the process systematic and foolproof.

The list has been drawn from the inmates of the Nettukaltheri Open Jail near Neyyattinkara and the three Central Prisons at Thiruvananthapuram, Viyyur and Kannur, who have completed eight years in prison with May last as the cut-off month.

The committee, which was constituted in March, has met five times so far and reviewed the cases of 62 prisoners. The recommendations have been forwarded to the Home Department for scrutiny, from where they would be sent to the Governor for final approval. The committee, which has a term of two years, is due to meet again on Tuesday.

The guidelines were framed after a Division Bench of the High Court, on its own accord, took note of the indiscriminate manner in which life convicts were being released on parole in 2001. One particular prisoner had been granted 675 days of parole, while there was one who had not been granted parole at all and others who had enjoyed only 30 or 40 days.

The court also found that the then Prison Review Committee and the Government had both failed to apply their minds while processing the premature release of life convicts. In one instance, the cases of 168 prisoners were considered by the committee in just seven hours, and in another, 59 cases were considered in three-and-a-half hours. As many as 208 persons were released in a day.

Panel

A high-level committee headed by the former judge of the Supreme Court, V.R. Krishna Iyer, was set up to draw up guidelines for the grant of parole and for the premature release of prisoners under Article 161 of the Constitution. Based on its recommendations, the Prison Review Committee was reconstituted in November last with the former judge of the High Court, M.R. Hariharan Nair, as chairman.

The committee has the DIG of Prisons as convener and the Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), IG (Administration), Director of Social Welfare, DIG (Prisons) and a criminologist, James Vadackumcherry, as members.

As per the guidelines, life convicts who have completed eight years in prison including the period of parole, but excluding remission, are eligible for premature release.

The nature of the offence, the possible effect of the prisoner's release on the community, his or her conduct in prison and the possibility of social rehabilitation are to be taken into account.

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