‘Sikh prisoners in jail for 3 decades’, Manish Tewari seeks debate on remission policy

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) A day after convicts in the infamous Bilkis Bano case were released, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday took up the case of Sikh prisoners languishing in jails and called for a uniformity in the definition of remission policy.

“There must be uniformity across the country about definition of life imprisonment & remissions permissible.

“While some convicts walk free after 15 years others languish in jail for 30 years or more?Classical case- Sikh Prisoners in jail for 03 decades,” he said in a tweet.

All 11 life imprisonment convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gang-rape case and murder of seven members of her family on Monday walked out of Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.

A special CBI court in Mumbai had sentenced the 11 accused to life imprisonment on the charge of gang-rape and murder of seven members of Bilkis Bano’s family on January 21, 2008. The Bombay High Court had later upheld their conviction.

According to reports, the convicts had served more than 15 years in jail and one of them had approached the Supreme Court with a plea for premature release.

The apex court had directed the Gujarat government to look into the issue of remission of his sentence following which the government formed a committee.

–IANS

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