Early release from jail is a Rs 200 cr biz?

The petition comes on the heels of the Karnataka government announcing it had sent a list of 594 convicts to the Governor,seeking approval to release them,based on various grounds,on Independence Day. But Bhardwaj opposed the release at one go.

The petition lauded his stand,saying the prisons ministry and home ministry of the state government had prescribed a fee of between Rs five lakh to Rs one crore to recommend premature release of criminals. “This is a graded scale and hard-core criminals and gangsters are required to pay higher amounts that are in keeping with their offences,” it said.

The petition,quoting some relatives,alleged that the money changes hands in the Vidhana Soudha and that once it is paid,release is recommended by the State Government.

It said most prisoners are from the poorer strata of society and a large number of them villagers and farmers.’None of them can pay money and so none are recommended for release,whereas real anti-social elements are able to buy freedom.’

“It is not surprising that the State Government has recommended over 500 persons for release and if records are cross checked,it will emerge that the grounds on which the recommendation has been made is false and fraudulent. The amounts collected for recommending these releases would not be less than a massive Rs 200 crore”,it alleged.

The petition demanded that the Governor call for records from the minister incharge of prisons and the Home Minister in respect of applications which have been rejected and not recommended and that a committee be set up to scrutinize case files of all those recommended for release.

TII said it would be in public interest if the issue was probed – ‘even if it has to wait till after Aug 15,it is more important that not a single undeserving prisoner be released and more importantly,the more deserving,particularly from the poorer sections and farmers be afforded the benefit”.

Transparency International India (TII) is the accredited India chapter of Transparency International,an international civil society organisation based at Berlin.