Law Minister N. Regupathy said on Sunday that the State government would complete the process of framing guidelines for releasing 700 convicts, who had served lengthy durations in prisons, within two to three weeks.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the Central Prison here to inspect the medical facilities and vocational training being given to the convicts, Mr. Regupathy said Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had announced in the State Assembly that 700 convicts, who had been serving their term in jail beyond 10 years, would be released on the occasion of birth anniversary of former Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai. “There were no hurdles in releasing them. The government is particular that no convicts, who had been involved in heinous crimes and had indulged in anti-national activities, should be released under the pretext of the goodwill gesture. Hence, the process of framing guidelines to list out the beneficiaries was going on. It would take at least 15 days to arrive at the list. The listed convicts would be set free soon,” Mr. Regupathy said.
To a question on extended detention of foreign nationals including Sri Lankans in special camps even after serving their terms, the Minister said that no one had been detained beyond the term period in the special camps. There was no need for the State government to keep them in special camps. There were foreigners, who did not want to return to their countries. A few of them had some serious pending cases against them and only such foreign nationals had been detained in the special camps, he said.
Mr. Regupathy said that the DMK government was committed to fulfilling its promise on releasing seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Similarly, a number of steps had been taken to get an exemption for the State from the ambit of the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET). Chief Minister M. K. Stalin met Governor R.N. Ravi a few days ago and impressed upon him the need to give assent to the Bill passed in the State Assembly, seeking an exemption to the students of the State from NEET.
School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Collector S. Sivarasu and senior officials accompanied the Law Minister.
