Gujarat to release 158 prisoners to mark 150th Gandhi anniv

The Gujarat government has decided to release over 150 prisoners, including elderly inmates, on humanitarian grounds to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday.

As many as 158 prisoners, who are eligible for remission, will be freed from jails across the state on October 2, said an official release on Tuesday.

This decision has been taken as per the directives issued by the Centre to all states and Union Territories on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the release quoted Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja as saying.

In the recent past, the state government had released 229 eligible prisoners in two phases.

Now, with the consent of Governor Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has decided to release another batch of 158 inmates on humanitarian grounds in the third phase, taking the total number of released prisoners to 387, said Jadeja.

These 387 prisoners include a woman, who is over 55 years and completed half of her actual sentence, and five male inmates who are over 60 years of age and completed half of their jail term, the minister said.

The remaining 381 are those who have completed two- third of their sentence, said Jadeja.