Governor urged to probe premature release of prisoners

M.today

Bangalore, Aug 6 : A civil society organisation has urged Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj to probe grounds on which premature release of 594 prisoners had been recommended, alleging irregularities with regard to it. 

In a petition to the Governor, Justice Michael Saldanha, Chairman of Bangalore chapter of Transparency International India (TII), wrote that he had received complaints from relatives of prisoners that grounds on which recommendations were made to release some were "fraudulent", leading to release of some "under-serving" prisoners.

 

The petition comes close on the heels of the Karnataka government announcing it had sent a list of 594 convicts to the Governor, seeking approval to release them, based on various grounds, on Independence Day.

But Bhardwaj had opposed the release at one go.
The petition lauded his stand, saying the state prisons ministry and home ministry had prescribed a fee of between Rs five lakh to Rs one crore to recommend premature release of criminals.

"This is a graded scale and hard-core criminals and gangsters are required to pay higher amounts that are in keeping with their offences," it said.
The petition, quoting some relatives, alleged that the money changes hands in the Vidhana Soudha and that once it is paid, release is recommended by the state government.

Most prisoners are from the poorer strata of society and a large number of them villagers and farmers, it said.

"None of them can pay money and so none are recommended for release, whereas real anti-social elements are able to buy freedom."
"It is not surprising that the state government has recommended over 500 persons for release and if records are cross-checked, it will emerge that the grounds on which the recommendation has been made is false and fraudulent. The amounts collected for recommending these releases would not be less than a massive Rs 200 crore," it alleged.
TII is the accredited India chapter of Transparency International, an international civil society organisation based at Berlin.