Patriotic movie nights and cultural programmes will mark the 75 th year of Indian Independence in prisons across the country. The Centre has notified the States and the Union Territories that a special event, ‘Transformation@75’, is to be celebrated with jail inmates in July.
In an advisory to the Chief Secretaries and the heads of prisons, the Ministry of Home Affairs said ‘Transformation@75’, being organised to commemorate the nationwide ‘ Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav ‘ programme, would include Desh Bhakti songs, dance, Rangoli, drama and wall art for prisoners. Wellness weekday and weekend events would include yoga and meditation.
Premature release
Besides the special remission announced recently for the premature release of senior citizens, women, differently abled and other categories of prisoners on their meeting certain conditions, the Ministry said prisoners with good conduct and minor offences could also be considered for release.
The special initiative in prisons would also include counselling sessions on employment opportunities and rehabilitation and an extended outreach programme with the assistance of NGOs, religious organisations and others. Regional language movies would be screened as part of the patriotic movie nights. Prison authorities would curate the programmes to make them suitable to be conducted in prisons.
Special module
To help the prison authorities identify eligible inmates and process their release in a speedy and accurate manner, a special module had been created in the ePrisons software, the Ministry said. Under the special remission scheme, the eligible prisoners would be released in three phases — August 15, 2022 (75 th anniversary of Independence); January 26, 2023 (Republic Day); and August 15, 2023.
Since ‘prisons’ and persons detained ‘therein’ are the ‘State-list’ subjects, according to the Constitution, the States and the Union Territories were told to constitute a screening committee to examine the cases of eligible persons.
On receiving the recommendations of the committee, the government would have to examine the report thoroughly so that hardened criminals, habitual offenders and others under the prohibited categories were not considered for release to ensure public peace and well-being of society.
The cases that required the approval of the Central government, as per law, would have to be sent to the Ministry. The State’s recommendations on release of prisoners under the special remission scheme would be approved by the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution.
