For convicts facing death penalty or life imprisonment in jail, it is expected to become tough to get remission. The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has asked states to be cautious and judicious while exercising powers of remission in its latest advisory. It has said that the power to grant remission by the state government should neither be done arbitrarily nor in a “wholesale manner’’.
Meanwhile, the MHA has also gone soft on undertrials after observing that though the percentage overcrowding in jails has steadily gone down as many as 67 per cent prison inmates continue to remain undertrials, as per 2011 data collected by National Crime Records Bureau.
In an advisory to all state home departments, the Union home ministry has said that no person can be detained in prison as an undertrial for a period exceeding the maximum possible sentence. It, however, says that this provision is not applicable for those who are charged with offences punishable with the death sentence. The advisories follow the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old woman in the national capital last month. An ordinance has been promulgated by the Centre allowing death sentence or life imprisonment in brutal rape cases.
In its advisory on powers of remission sent to all states last week, the MHA has clarified that the term “life imprisonment’’ means the entire life span of a convict. It has cited a Supreme Court order which says that “there is a misconception that a prisoner serving a life sentence has an indefeasible right to release on completion of either 14 years or 20 years’ imprisonment. The prisoner has no such right. A convict undergoing life imprisonment is expected to remain in custody till the end of his life, subject to any remission granted by the appropriate government. The MHA goes on to say that “before actually exercising the power of remission, the appropriated Government must obtain the opinion (with reasons) of the presiding judge of the convicting or confirming Court.” It says that “remission can be given only on a case-by-case basis and not in a wholesale manner”.