Chandigarh, March 31: Convicted prisoners in Punjab will nowbe eligible for remission from time to time, instead of just once, under theamendment to the Remission Policy 2010, approved on Wednesday by the statecabinet.
The cabinet, at a virtual meeting under Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh, gave the go-ahead to the amended Remission Policy 2021, whichmakes remission applicable for prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for morethan 10 years, including prisoners sentenced for life,
instead of prisoners convicted for 10 to 20 years under theearlier policy.
Further, the convicts would now be eligible for time to timeremission also in cases of offences committed under Section 302 or 304 of theIndian Penal Code, 1860, read with Sections 376, 376-A, 376-AB, 376-B, 376-C, 376-D,376-DA, 376-DB, 376-E or 377 of the Indian Penal Code, instead of an offencecommitted under Section 302 or 304 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read withonly Sections 376 to 376-D or 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Chief Minister has been authorised to make any furtherchanges as may be suggested by the Department in this regard.
It may be recalled that on March 16, 2020, while consideringpremature release cases of life convicts, it came to the notice of theCommittee constituted at the level of government for the purpose, that theRemission Policy-2010 had some ambiguities. The Committee also realised thatthe 2010 policy was silent on some provisions. Hence, it could not be clarifiedfrom the Remission Policy whether the remission announced by the PunjabGovernment was to be granted to the convicts every year or it can be grantedonly One Time during the sentence period. It was thus felt that the RemissionPolicy dated September 30, 2010 needed some clarification.
After thoroughly examining the Remission Policy it was feltthat some amendments were required to be effected in it. These amendments havenow been included in the new Remission Policy 2021 so that the convictsconfined in the jails of Punjab may get the benefit of remission granted fromtime to time. In addition, the new Policy also incorporates some otherimportant amendments relating to crimes against women that have been effectedin the IPC.
Notably, the Punjab Government had framed a policy in 2010for granting benefit of remission on different occasions to the convictsundergoing jail sentences in the state.
Police Admin Report Approved
In another move, the Cabinet has also approved the AnnualAdministrative Report of the Police Department for the year 2018.