In a rare case of special remission the state government set free 15 convicts from Bishalgarh Central Correctional Facility and other sub divisional prisons on Wednesday. Among the freed prisoners were also two women.
As per rules it is the Governor who could invoke the power bestowed upon him under the Article 161 of the Constitution sets the convicts free.
The convicts who were released were chosen carefully by the authority which considered their behaviour during the prison term. Spme of them were once involved in sensational cases. One among them was Amit Ghosh – a former Congress leader.
This rare remission came as a pleasant surprise for the prisoners before the Durga Puja and the release programme was attended by Jail Minister Ram Prasad Paul at Bishalgarh Central Correctional Facility. The State level screening committee had sent the list to the government on August 6 last. The government on September 20 approved the list and then sent it to the Governor.
It may mentioned here that The central government had earlier proposed to grant special remission to certain categories of prisoners as part of celebrations of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
A detailed guideline for the special remission was also sent to the state by the Home Ministry.
The guidelines specified that the prisoners who would be eligible for grant of special remission included women and transgender convicts aged 50 years and above, male convicts aged 60 years and above, physically challenged with 70 percent disability or more and and youths who committed the crime in 18-21 years of age, with no other criminal involvement.. However, all these categories should have completed 50% of their total sentence period.
Other convicts who could go free under special remission scheme include
Terminally ill convicts duly certified by a medical board; all prisoners who have completed two-thirds of their sentence period; and poor or indigent prisoners who
completed their sentence but remain in jail due to non-payment of fine imposed on them, by waiving off the fine.
The MHA guidelines however put out an exhaustive list of convicted prisoners not eligible for special remission. These include convicts on death row, including cases where the death sentence has been commuted to life or convicts for offences where death has been specified as one of the punishments. Other convicts who would not be freed were those involved in case related to rape, NSA , POCSO, anti Hijacking , anti State activities, terrorist activities, FEMA, PMLA, NDPS, Prevention of Corruption cases etc.
The convicts would be selected by screening committee which would send the list to the government which would in turn send it to the Governor who might then invoke the Art 161 of the Constitution for remission. But before setting the prisoners free, a counselling with the prisoners and their relatives would have to be conducted for their proper rehabilitation.
In a social media post, Ram Prasad Paul wrote, “some of the convicts were released from the jail as they have reformed themselves and changed their behavior trying to return to a normal life. They were brought back to normal life with the help of correctional facilities by the prison department at Bishalgarh Central Correctional Facility”.
Among others IG Prison Aditi Majumdar was also present in the programme at Bishalgarh.
