Chennai: About 67 lifers who have served ten years in jail will be freed on the occasion of the birth centenary of the iconic leader and AIADMK founder M. G. Ramachandran.
The move has been welcomed by the principal opposition party DMK in the Assembly on Monday. An official release which announced their premature release stated that the government, which has been functioning on the path shown by late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, has in the first phase decided to release 67 life convicts, who had completed ten years in prison as on February 25, 2018.
The former Chief Minister who was fondly called as MGR (Jan. 17, 1917 - Dec. 24, 1987) was mentor of late CM J. Jayalalithaa, and was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1977 and 1987. Tamil Nadu government celebrated his birth centenary year across the state.
According to an official release here on Monday, as per Article 161 of the Constitution, in line with the powers vested with the Governor to grant pardons and to commute sentences and as per guidelines of the Supreme Court and High Courts on the issue of pre-mature release, two Government Orders were issued. The GOs, envisaged guidelines for the release of prisoners, it added.
The decision was announced by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami while participating in the MGR birth centenary celebration at Dindigul in December last.
Welcoming the move in the Assembly, DMK working president and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, M. K. Stalin, wondered why the announcement was not made in the Assembly House during the ongoing session, if it was in line with the tradition.
Responding, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam said the prisoners' release, which the government proposes was a “continuing process,” and that was why it was not announced in the House. Governor Banwarilal Purohit has to accord sanction for the proposed release of prisoners.
A case by case review of convicts' including their criminal antecedents was being carried out while keeping with the SCguidelines, he said. Prisoners were being evaluated for release on factors like their length of detention (if it was 10 or 20 years) in prisons and if they faced serious ailments.
“Unlike the release of prisoners during your (DMK) regime (2006-11), now it is being done on a case by case basis as per Supreme Court guidelines,” Mr. Shanmugam said and added that in Central prisons in TN committees were set up to recommend remission of sentence.
