SC Provides New Guidelines to Enhance Policy on Remission for Convicts

GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court has introduced new guidelines that will make policies on permanent remission for convicts more uniform and transparent.

The bench, comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, emphasized the need for clearer access to policy details, timely updates on decisions, and personalized case assessments to avoid arbitrary rulings.

In a bail policy case, in 2021, the court ordered all the states and union territories to convey within a week to the convict whether his remission application was rejected or not. Also, the copies of rejection have to be communicated to local legal services authorities so that it would help the convicts get the legal aid needed.

The Supreme Court has directed all states to make their current policies relating to permanent remission available. Copies of the policies shall be there in each jail, and the government is directed to upload the English translations thereof on its website. The court, in its order dated October 22, also directed jail superintendents and prison authorities to inform all convicts eligible under these policies of their existence so that those who might be eligible for remission would know the guidelines.

According to the order, state authority is expected to take stern measures to make sure convict prisoners who qualify for capital or other serious punishment are heard and the cases dealt with in full fairness.

The court indicated that current remission policies, and any future adjustments, are to be accessible in jails throughout the state and to be accessible in English on relevant government websites. The jail administrations were to ensure that those prisoners who qualify for remission under the new policies had been informed, as the court had decried the practice of withholding the decision of remission in the hope of an appeal being filed.

The court explained that pending appeals on convictions cannot be the sole reason for delays, although applications can be held up if the state has ongoing appeals for a longer sentence or for overturning a conviction.

In relation thereto, the bench only advised that only specific conditions should not form one-size-fits-all order conditions to grant remissions and, accordingly, any orders filed may be granted based on each respective subject's specific case. Attention is drawn by the court unto the issuance of the order dated 21 October 2024 in which decisions on remissions deserved judicious thought.

It further ordered that upon the amendment of the policies, updated policies should be given as stated above. Additionally, it ruled that notification to convicts of rejection orders should be done within one week from the time such a decision has been made.

If grounds are not given with rejections, reasons provided by a Sentence Review Board or the like should be annexed to orders of rejections. Further discussions on the further matters the Court proposes to resume on December 3, 2024: whether there need to be grounds given at all for any rejections of remissions and, whether eligibility criteria must form a part of the assessments separate and distinct from those applications moving under the present schemes moved by convicts.

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