They may perhaps see light at the end of a long tunnel. Around 440 life convicts, including at least 20 women, who have served a prison sentence of or more than 14 years and enjoy a clean record in the prison, may reportedly be set free in the next couple of months from various prisons across Karnataka.
Official sources said that the Prison Department has prepared a list of around 440 life convicts from the eight Central prisons, including over 200 life convicts from the Bengaluru Central Prison, who have spent between 14 and 20 years of prison sentence and have a clean record post conviction.
The Department is in the process of setting up advisory boards at the eight Central prisons, which will meet from June 1 onwards to study each recommendation and give their opinion. The Boards overseeing the Central prisons in Bengaluru and Mysore will be headed by the Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Prisons, K.V. Gagandeep, while the other boards for remaining six prisons will be headed by district Deputy Commissioners. The recommendations of the advisory boards will be sent to the government, which would then submit it to the Governor for his assent.
The Governor under Article 161 is vested with the power to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute sentences of convicts in certain cases. Barring 2006, on the 50th anniversary of Karnataka, when the then H.D. Kumaraswamy government had pardoned 309 life convicts on grounds of consistent good behaviour, ill-health and report from the jurisdictional superintendent of police that their release would not harm society, there have been no en masse release of convicts in the State.
Since 2010, there has been an ongoing tussle between the government and the Governor on the release of some “deserving” life convicts. On three occasions the government had sent files of some life convicts, who could be released on various grounds, but Governor H.R. Bhardwaj sent them back stating that they should send him details of individual cases, their history along with the Supreme Court order on remission of sentence of life convicts. The government then decided to constitute advisory boards for sieving through each such recommendation.
