The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Improve the condition of jails, says forum

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Tamil Nadu

Improve the condition of jails, says forum

Special Correspondent

“State’s refusal to release Arms Act convicts untenable”

CHENNAI: The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners has called for steps to improve the condition of prisons in the country.

At a press conference here, Amit Bhattacharya, secretary-general, and S.A.R. Geelani, vice-president, said every jail was over-crowded; no less different was the Tihar jail, which is considered the largest in south Asia.

Referring to the Tamil Nadu Government’s move to release some life convicts to mark the centenary of former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai, Prof. Bhattacharya termed untenable the government’s stand against releasing those convicted under the Arms Act or the Explosive Substances Act.

Citing a letter written by the Home Secretary in April to the Additional Director-General of Prisons, he said the government felt that the Governor did not have the power to grant pardons, reprieves and remission of punishment in the case of those convicted under the laws governed by the Union Government’s executive powers. But there was no need for the Centre’s sanction to release such convicts.

“Release prisoners”

There were 145 Muslim prisoners and 10 Maoists in the jails in Tamil Nadu. The State government should release them, and those who had committed offences, driven by their political ideology, Prof. Bhattacharya said. Pending their release, they should at least be given the status of political prisoners.

A. Marx, another vice-president of the committee, said the present regime had released 590 prisoners in the past two years, but no single political prisoner was let off.

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