SC seeks affidavit from senior UP prisons officials on issue relating to premature release of life convicts

New Delhi [India], January 5 : The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the stand of the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Prisons through a personal affidavit mentioning the issues relating to the premature release of certain prisoners in line with a 2018 policy.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha also sought a response from Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority on the plea.
The court asked the Uttar Pradesh Director General of Prisons to place a personal affidavit mentioning its stand on whether the State had complied with a 2022 judgment directing it to consider the premature release of certain prisoners in line with a 2018 policy.
The court also remarked that it will ask the State Legal Services to visit all prisons and find out about all such inmates.
The court was hearing a plea seeking to direct the competent authority to decide the representation for remission or pre-mature release of convicts serving life imprisonment.
The plea was filed by one Rajkumar and others through V Maheshwari & co and the petitioners were represented by advocates Prateek Rai and Nagendra Singh.
The petitioner said that he has filed the petition seeking enforcement for their Fundamental Rights as guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution in as much as the petitioners herein are languishing in different jails in the State of Uttar Pradesh for more than 14 years and having qualified and entitled under the Rules, 1938 prays inter-alia claiming parity.
The petitioner further prayed before the Court that their cases be considered by the State Government under the Policy dated January 2018 and also by virtue of the order dated May 4 2021 passed by the top Court and not by any prospective amendment dated July 28 2021 of the policy dated August 1 2018 which amendment would not be applicable in the cases of petitioners herein.
The petition submitted that the object of punishment should be the reform of the criminal, through the method of individualization. "It is based on the humanistic principle that even if an offender commits a crime, he/she does not cease to be a human being. A person may have committed a crime under circumstances which might never occur again," the petition said.
The petitioner raised the question of whether the petitioners are entitled to release on probation under the provisions of UP Prisoners' Release on Probation Rules, 1938 which stipulates that any prisoner may be eligible for consideration by the State Government for release on the licence, if he is a prisoner to whom Section 433-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 applies and has served imprisonment for a total period of fourteen years.