The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Gujarat government whether its premature release policy for prisoners was applied only “selectively”.
Justice B.V. Nagarathna shot the question at Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju, appearing for Gujarat, while hearing a series of petitions challenging the early release of 11 men who were sentenced to life imprisonment for gang-raping Bilkis Bano and for murders of seven persons during the riots in Gujarat in 2002. The remission for the 11 men was granted on August 10, 2022.
“Why is the policy of remission applied selectively? Opportunity to reform and reintegrate must be given to every prisoner, not only to a few prisoners,” Justice Nagarathna queried.
The petitioners, including Ms. Bano, have challenged the release of 11 convicts under the State’s Premature Release Policy of 1992.
The other writ petitions filed by CPI (M) leader Subhashini Ali and others like Trinamool Congress leader Mahia Moitra have also challenged the early release of the convicts.
An affidavit by the State of Gujarat had revealed that while the Superintendent of Police, CBI, Special Crime Branch, Mumbai and the Special Judge (CBI) of Greater Bombay had opposed the premature release, the Home Ministry had recommended their release.
“All the prisoners have completed 14 plus years in the prison under life imprisonment and opinions of the authorities concerned have been obtained as per the premature release policy of 1992 and submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs vide letter dated June 28, 2022 and sought the approval of the Government of India. The Government of India conveyed the concurrence/approval of the Central government under Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for premature release of 11 prisoners in a letter on July 11, 2022,” Gujarat said in its affidavit.
The State had clarified that, contrary to popular perceptions, the early release of the 11 convicts was not as per a circular allowing remission to prisoners as part of the celebration of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
