The High Power Committee formed to submit recommendations for decongesting the jails in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak may recommend releasing prisoners on special parole or interim bail.
The committee was constituted after the Supreme Court directed the State governments to consider releasing of prisoners who had been convicted for jail terms less than seven years. The apex court had also suggested extending the benefits to undertrial prisoners who were being tried for offences which could attract a maximum imprisonment up to seven years.
The committee in the State is headed by Justice C.K. Abdul Rehim, chairman of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority. It has Vishwas Mehtha, Additional Chief Secretary, and Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services Rrishraj Singh as its members.
The State government released 105 prisoners on parole on Thursday as part of the efforts to decongest the jails after the approval of the Chief Minister. Prisoners who could not return to the jail on the expiry of the parole shall report to the nearest police station, government sources said.
Who are eligible?
The benefit of the scheme will not be extended to persons who have been incarcerated or facing trial for serious offences such as rape and murder. The Indian Penal Code prescribes punishment of less than seven years for offences such as simple hurt, wrongful confinement, dowry cases, cruelty to married woman, forgery, house trespass, and mischief.
There are currently 8,028 prisoners in the Kerala jails and the number of beneficiaries of the scheme will be known shortly.
The Home Department is working on the suggestions forwarded by the judiciary on the selection of prisoners and the mode in which the scheme has to be implemented. The panel will meet through videoconferencing and take a decision, said Dr. Mehta.
Input from authorities
For picking up the beneficiaries, the nature of the offences for which the prisoners were convicted, their behaviour in jail, the number of year they were imprisoned and the response of prisoners when released in parole earlier would be considered. The report of the jail superintend in each case will be crucial in selecting the beneficiaries.
The prisoners who had returned to the jail after completing the parole without committing any offence may get preference. The Jail Department is in the process of preparing the list of beneficiaries by evaluating these factors, department sources said.
The committee may also suggest permitting such persons to execute personal bail bonds since they will not be able to get sureties from outside in the present social stiutation. The release could be considered as the suspension of their jail sentence for a short period, a judicial source said.
