Delhi’s LG approves draft to amend rules for premature release of infirm inmates
The primary purpose for the change in rules is to decongest the Capital’s overcrowded jails, officials said
Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Thursday approved the draft notification of amendments to the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, Raj Niwas officials aware of the matter said.
The development, officials said, paves the way for allowing the premature release of infirm inmates aged above 70 years, who have completed 50% of their sentences.
According to the officials, the primary purpose for the change in rules is to decongest the Capital’s overcrowded jails — Tihar, Mandoli, and Rohini — which house a cumulative 20,000+ inmates against their capacity of only 10,026.
The amendment was made in compliance with a Delhi high court order in a writ petition that sought the premature release of infirm prisoners in terms of the reports of the All India Committee on Jail Reforms (1982-1983 Mulla Committee) and model Prison Rules, 2003.
Explaining the criteria for inmates who will benefit from the amendment, the officials said the person in question should be judged infirm or “incapacitated” by an evaluation committee — that is, unable to perform their own daily tasks. Convicts serving life sentences or the death penalty, or those convicted of treason, terrorism, or under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, are exempt from the amendment, they added.
“With the amendment in the rules, ‘incapacitated convicts’ – those 70 years old and above and unable to perform their own daily tasks – could be released prematurely on the recommendations of a review committee specially set up for this purpose,” said a senior official from the LG Secretariat aware of the matter on condition of anonymity.
Such inmates could also include those undergoing either rigorous or simple imprisonment for a fixed term of sentence, the official added.
“According to the amendment, only a convict who has been declared ‘incapacitated’ by a bona fide medical board and has undergone at least 50% of his or her actual sentence awarded – without counting the period of remission earned – after conviction and whose case is covered under these rules will be eligible for remittance of the sentence for premature release. There will be a five-member evaluation committee — including a DIG-rank officer, superintendent and resident medical officer of the jail concerned and at least two specialist doctors (nominated by the prison DG) — to evaluate the medical condition of the convict,” the official added.
A second officer said a social investigation report, including feedback from victims of crimes involving the convict, will have to be submitted to the committee while deciding the remittance. “The DG (prisons) may also take the opinion of any medical authority like AIIMS as it deems fit. The evaluation committee may also recommend whether the convict is fit for premature release under this rule,” he said.
Director general (prisons) Sanjay Baniwal said that the amendment will help decongest prisons. “It will also inspire convicts to improve their behaviour so that they can get a fresh lease of life outside the jails,” he said.