Process to start soon for premature release of convicts on Independence Day

BENGALURU: With the Independence Day approaching soon, hundreds of convicts are dreaming of walking out of the jail. The prisons department is all set to initiate the process to free the convicts who are eligible for premature release as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

An official from the prisons department said that a meeting was held recently to discuss the process. “An order will be passed soon. We are not sure how many convicts are eligible for premature release this time. It will be known only after the process begins. Considering that we have just over a month for the Independence Day, everything will be finalised within a few weeks,” the official said.

As per the procedure, once the order is issued, a list of all convicts eligible will be prepared and sent for scrutiny by Advisory Committees in each district. The committees, which include the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of respective districts, will take a decision after going through the case details and conduct of convicts. Then, the list finalised by these committees will be forwarded to the home department, which will again scrutinise the list and send it to the government for approval. Once it is approved at a cabinet meeting, the convicts will be released.

For premature release, the convicts, as per the Supreme Court guidelines, must have completed more than 14 years with remission in the prison and should have a record of good behaviour during the prison term. However, this does not apply for those convicted in terrorism-related cases.

This is the third time in the last one year that eligible convicts are being released prematurely. On Republic Day, 375 lifers, including 13 women, from prisons across the state were released. Before that, the state had released 252 convicts on September 17 last year.