Srinagar: At a time when the Supreme Court has directed states to release convicts and undertrials temporarily, it has come to fore that downgrading of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir to a Union Territory (UT) by the BJP-led Central government has left it incapable of remitting the sentences of convicts.
Highly placed sources told The Wire that the J&K government could not decide on the recommendation for remitting the sentences of six convicts on this year’s Republic Day, after it came to know that the Lieutenant Governor has no such powers.
“The government could not release them on January 26 as Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories don’t have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence,” a senior official in the government disclosed.
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The recommendation for remitting the sentence of these convicts was made by two review boards constituted by J&K’s Home department in July last year, before the decision to dilute Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two UTs.
Under Indian law, the president and the governors of states are empowered to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence. The grant of pardon is governed by Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution of India.
Union home minister Amit Shah delivers his speech in the Rajya Sabha on August 5. Photo: Twitter/@ANI
Before the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs, its governor was empowered by its own constitution to grant pardon or remit sentence of prisoners. “The Governor shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends,” read Article 34 of the constitution of J&K.
This was among the many key provisions of the J&K constitution that were read down by the BJP-led Central government on August 5, when it revoked the special status of the erstwhile state.
According to documents in possession of The Wire, the governor of J&K remitted the remaining part of sentences of 12 prisoners in 2017, eight in 2018 and four in 2019.
The remission of sentence of convicts was a regular gesture of goodwill on the J&K government’s part. Usually, this occurred on Republic Day and sometimes also on August 15.
The review boards for recommending remission of sentences were constituted by the government on July 31, 2018, after the DGP (prisons) wrote to the home department. Both the review boards were headed by the director general of prisons and comprised officials from civil administration, prison department and the judiciary.
When contacted, DGP (prisons) V.K. Singh, who was heading the review boards, refused to comment on the matter. “I don’t speak to the media,” he said.
Interestingly, after the dilution of Article 370, the government of Jammu and Kashmir also could not grant parole to convicts until late March this year. The legal framework for paroling prisoners ceased to exist due to the repeal of the Jammu and Kashmir Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1978.
The legal framework for granting parole was restored only on March 29, 2020, when the government came up with J&K Suspension of Sentence Rules, 2020 under the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 1973.