SC defers Balwant Singh Rajoana – 1995 killer of Punjab CM Beant Singh – plea for release
Senior advocate Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, urged the bench to grant temporary release to Rajoana.
The Yogi Adityanath Government has instructed the Prison Department to compile a list of undertrial prisoners who have been lodged in Uttar Pradesh prisons for seven years, have displayed good behaviour, and have confessed to their crimes.
Officials of the Prison Department have been given instructions to provide a list of prisoners with less than seven-year sentences in each jail. They also have been asked to offer suggestions. The files of such prisoners have been called to the headquarters, who meet the criteria for mercy petitions, a senior official said here on Saturday.
According to DIG, Prisons, AK Singh, a report has been requested on the obstacles being faced by undertrial inmates serving sentences of less than seven years who have pleaded mercy in all state prisons. He said the department is preparing a list of undertrial prisoners lodged in 62 jails and Bandi Nari Niketan in the state.
According to DIG Jail, the department is also compiling a list of prisoners who have not received a relative in the past 12 months. A list of trade-wise trained prisoners has also been sought from the superintendents of all jails in the state.
According to the official, all the prisoners lodged in jails are not professional criminals; therefore it’s important to treat them with humanity so they can come out with good thinking and skills and can rejoin the mainstream of the society.
The official said that the superintendents of all the jails of the state have been instructed to make arrangements for blankets and bonfires etc. for the prisoners in view of the cold wave with the help of social organizations and district administration.
“We have also been given instructions from the government level to strengthen the arrangements for nutritious food in jails, as well as the inmates’ meetings with their families. All instructions from the headquarters have been sent to the superintendents of all jails in the state,” he said.
Advertisement
