HC to hear tomorrow PIL on ensuring fairness in pre-mature release of convicts

The Delhi High Court Wednesday agreed to hear tomorrow a PIL seeking fairness and impartiality in the functioning of Sentence Review Board (SRB) while dealing with the issue of pre-mature release of convicts.

The plea was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao which allowed that it be listed for hearing tomorrow.

The petition filed by social activist Amit Sahni claimed that pre-mature release of poor convicts was not done in a fair and impartial manner and as per the statutory order passed by the Lieutenant Governor in 2004.

The plea suggested that cases of life convicts should be considered in SRB by giving each of them a number or code and concealing his caste and religion to avoid "extraneous consideration".

"Right to legal representation must be also given to the convict, whose cases are placed before the SRB for the purpose of consideration for premature release. Meetings of SRB must be video-graphed to ensure transparency in the working and functioning of SRB," it said.

The plea added that the entire material placed before SRB -- police reports, reports from jail, nominal rolls, report from social welfare department and other documents -- must be forwarded to the LG for taking an independent decision as to whether recommendations of the board are in pursuance to the material considered by it or the same is affected by some extraneous reasons.

Sahni, an advocate, said he has given representation to the authorities in this regard on November 26 and sought that the suggestions given by him be implemented.

The petition also mentioned an instance where one inmate, Sikander Singh, died in jail awaiting the decision of SRB. It said the convict had already undergone more than 28 years of incarceration and his detention beyond 25 years was illegal and uncalled for.