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WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
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| 296 prisoners released, 1,293 benefit from SC judgment |
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Thursday, July 02, 2009
By Jamal Khurshid
Karachi
As many as 296 convicts have been released while some 1,293 were able to obtain remission benefits from different prisons in Sindh in light of a landmark Supreme Court (SC) judgment regarding prisoners’ remissions.
Following the SC’s judgment, around 132 prisoners, who were jailed in different prisons of Sindh and sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial courts, have been released while 146 prisoners who were awarded sentences other than life imprisonment were released by the jail authorities.
Some 18 prisoners were released who were detained in different prisons merely due to non-payment of compensation. While 1293 prisoners were benefited in their remission procedures, the report sent to the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court’s larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, hearing the appeal of a convict, had observed that the benefit of Section 382-B, CrPC., was not given to prisoners and the remissions granted by the federal and the provincial governments during his pre-sentence custody period were also not allowed by the concerned authorities.
The court had considered it a question of public importance relating to the enforcement of fundamental rights of a prisoner as guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution and ordered that at the time of passing the sentence, it was mandatory for the trial court to take into consideration the pre-sentence custody period of the accused and refusal to take into consideration the pre-sentence custody period at the time of passing the sentence is to be illegal.
The court held that if a court sentences a convict to imprisonment for life, which is the alternative but maximum sentence for the offence of murder, but does not make allowance for the pre-sentence custody period, it would be punishing the convict prisoner with imprisonment for life plus the pre-sentence custody period, that is to say, more than the maximum legal punishment.
According to the judgment, the convict-prisoners who are granted the benefit of section 382-B, CrPC, shall be entitled to remissions granted by any authority in their post-sentence detention or during their pre-sentence detention in connection with such offence.
The concerned authorities were directed to submit report before Supreme Court in respect of the implementation of the judgment, also giving the number of prisoners benefiting from it. In perusal of the SC’s direction, the report has been sent to Supreme Court by the Registrar of Sindh High Court Abdul Rasool Memon.
The report said that 34 prisoners of life imprisonment who are detained in Karachi prison while 55 prisoners of Hyderabad prison, 36 prisoners of Sukkur prison had been released after the SC’s judgment.
As many as 46 women in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur prisons were provided remission benefit while five women have been released from Karachi women’s prison who were sentenced to life and other sentences. Some seven juvenile prisoners of Karachi and Hyderabad prisons benefited regarding their remissions while three were released who were sentenced to different jail terms.
According to the report, 364 prisoners of Karachi prison, 538 of Hyderabad, 103 of Malir, 88 of Sukkur-1, 26 of Sukkur-II, 65 of Larkana, 42 of Khairpur, 9 of Sanghar have benefited from the SC’s order.
The benefits of the judgment shall not be available to the convicts of offences under the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance, 1999, Anti-terrorism Act, 1997, the offence of karo kari, etc, as the law itself prohibits the same.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
