Convicts to Be Released If Jail Time Exceeds Sentence: Supreme Court

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court on Tuesday told all the states and union territories that if any convicted person is still in jail after completing the prescribed period of sentence and is not wanted in any other case, he should be released immediately.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and KV Vishwanathan gave this direction to the states and union territories while ordering the release of Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehalwan, convicted in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case. The court said that Yadav had completed 20 years of sentence without any remission in March this year.

The bench also directed the Home Secretaries of all states and union territories to find out whether any convicted person is in jail for more than the prescribed period of punishment. If any convicted person is not wanted in any other case and is in jail for more than the prescribed period, then he should be released soon after completing the necessary legal process.

The bench said that this order of the court should be sent to the Member Secretary of the National Legal Services Authority so that the District Legal Services Authorities of the states can be made aware of it.