Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 11 May: Uttarakhand High Court today sought a clear response from the state government regarding the release policy for prisoners who have completed life imprisonment terms but continue to remain lodged in jails despite directions issued earlier by the Supreme Court of India.
Hearing the matter, a division bench comprising of Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Sidharth Sah directed the state government to inform the court within one week about the policy framed for the release of such prisoners. The court has fixed 18 May as the next date of hearing in the matter.
During the hearing, the state government informed the court that several prisoners had already been released by the jail administration in compliance with the earlier orders. However, the government submitted that certain inmates involved in serious offences had not been released, while in some cases further approval from the state government was necessary before their release could be processed.
The counsel appearing on behalf of the prisoners argued that many inmates have already completed their sentences long ago, but despite orders from the Supreme Court and the High Court, they are still being kept in prison. It was argued that that this amounted to non-compliance of court orders as well as violation of the constitutional rights of the prisoners.
The petitioners further submitted that several representations had been sent to the jail administration seeking release after completion of sentence, but no action had been taken on those applications. They maintained that continued detention despite completion of sentence is unlawful.
The matter relates to separate petitions filed by prisoners seeking release after serving their sentences. In the petitions, the inmates stated that despite completing the prescribed term of imprisonment, they have not been released from jail.
It may be recalled that earlier, the Supreme Court had directed all High Courts across the country to ensure implementation of its orders regarding release of eligible prisoners who had completed their sentence. The apex court had also directed that such prisoners should be released in accordance with the law.
Taking serious note of alleged non-compliance of the directions, the HC had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the issue and also conducted visits to various prisons in the state. During the inspection, the court reportedly found 167 prisoners who had completed their sentence but continued to remain in jail due to pending legal formalities.
Following the court’s intervention, the state government released some prisoners, but several inmates categorised under serious or doubtful cases were not released, leading to the present round of hearing before the High Court.
