Premature release of prisoners in Uttar Pradesh: Supreme Court issues directions to save process from arbitrariness

The Supreme Court on Monday issued various directions on the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh government should consider cases of premature release of prisoners in the State, in a bid to institutionalise the process and minimise arbitrariness..Among other directions, the Court has called for the State to strictly comply with the laws already in force with respect to premature release. It has also laid down a timeline of three months for taking decisions in such matters. .A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala passed the order after concerns were raised, via Advocate Rishi Malhotra, that the Uttar Pradesh government was adopting a pick-and-choose policy when it comes to the premature release of prisoners in the State. .In response, the Court has also voiced a note of caution in its order against such alleged arbitrariness being allowed to continue."State of Uttar Pradesh, having formulated a Statute, Rules and a Standing Policy for deciding cases of premature release, is bound by its own formulations of law. Once there are legal provisions which hold the field, it is not open for the State to adopt an arbitrary yardstick to pick up cases of premature release and must be in conformity with its policies and bearing in mind that there is a fundamental principle of law that remission is as per the policy which existed during conviction and liberalisation is to be implemented as amended later."The Court has emphasised that the legal provisions applicable should be applied evenly to all similarly placed prisoners."An arbitrary method adopted by the State is liable for great abuse and where persons lacking resources or, for that matter, adequate education would suffer the most," the Court said..Bearing in mind that there were repeated instances of cases coming before the top court on such issues, the Bench proceeded to issue the following directions in an attempt to institutionalise the process:The Chairperson of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) should collate information from district and State prisons on convicts who have become eligible as per applicable rules/policies for premature release. Every jail superintendent should furnish such information to the Secretary of the DLSA so as to ensure that the process of premature release is implemented in an efficient and transparent matter. DLSA Secretaries are to collate information and submit returns on May 1, August 1, and October 1 to the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA). The Chairperson of the State body should convene a meeting to assess the report filed by DLSA. The meeting should also include the Secretary of the Home Department and the Director-General (DG), Prisons. The State government shall strictly abide by the provisions contained in the policy governing premature release of convicts. All cases for considering the premature release of prisoners shall be disposed of no later than three months from when the prisoner becomes eligible for premature release..The Court has also ordered the preparation of an online dashboard with information on all convicts undergoing imprisonment and the dates on which they would become eligible for premature release. This exercise is to prepared by the DG-Prisons within one month, in consultation with the SLSA Chairperson, the Court directed. The said dashboard should contain information regarding the stage of pendency and the dates on which the convicts are to be released, the Court added. In this way, monitoring can be carried out in real-time, the Court noted while directing that such dashboard information should be made available to the member-secretaries of the DLSA and the SLSA. An affidavit indicating compliance of this direction has been ordered to be filed by March 31. .While Additional Advocate General Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh, urged the Court to take into account practical aspects, including actions to be taken from the Governor's side, Chief Justice Chandrachud responded,"There is no vacuum at the Constitutional level... that's how prescient the Constitution is. Just because one is a constitutional authority, they cannot say they are above the law.".Prasad also informed the Court today that 2,228 convicts are entitled to remission in the State of Uttar Pradesh. In response to the Court's queries, he further submitted,"They have completed 14 years [of imprisonment] as per the old policy. The new policy is 16 years and new policy will be applicable to those who have been convicted after 2018 since new policy came in then."This led Justice JB Pardiwala to voice concern that, "there is inconsistency in application of the policy.""Policy will be applicable only if conviction is on and after the date of the policy," Prasad replied.Advocate Malhotra, however, asserted that the government has not been following the policies uniformly. "They do not act on the policies and we have to file contempt. That is why we suggested that a judge of the Allahabad High Court could monitor these or at least have monthly reports," Malhotra argued. After hearing the submissions, the Court proceeded to pass its directions to streamline the process. Further, the Court has also issued notice to the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to consider the issue of monitoring of premature release of prisoners..[Read live coverage of the hearing]