THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition UDF has flayed the LDF government’s move to give remission to several hardcore criminals and decided to meet Governor P. Sathasivam on the matter. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala told reporters in Malappuram that the government's decision was condemnable. "What will happen to the state if these hardcore criminals are released?” he asked. Former home minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan and P. T. Thomas MLA too came down heavily on the government. Mr Chennithala’s office rubbished the allegation that in February last year, the previous UDF government had prepared a list of nearly 1,000 prisoners to be released. It was alleged that godman Santhosh Madhavan’s name too was in the list.
In a statement here, Mr Chennithala maintained that though the prison department had given a list of prisoners for special remission announced by the then UDF government, it could not be implemented as the model code of conduct for the election in May 2016 had come into effect then. “Since the decision to grant general remission was taken by the UDF cabinet in August 2015, further procedures could not be initiated,” said Mr Chennithala. As per the Governor’s directive, the then cabinet had to look into each prisoner’s case and recommend remission instead of a general one. Since the code of conduct was in place, the cabinet could not proceed further on the matter.
