Deaths of prisoners in Indian and Pakistani jails should be informed at the earliest to their High Commissions and the bodies sent home within three weeks.This is one of the key recommendations of the India-Pakistan judicial committee on prisoners, which met between June 9 and 13. The committee also recommended that women and juvenile prisoners suffering from terminal illness or disability be pardoned and sent back home, people committing minor offences like overstaying on visa or visiting places not allowed under visa and violation of the Foreigners’ Act and border-crossing be also dealt in a lenient manner, and consular access be given within a month of arrest. The committee, which comprises four retired judges each from both sides, visited jails in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore and met the Indian prisoners in these jails. They are likely to visit Indian jails from July 20 to 27.The panel recommended that all such prisoners who have completed their respective sentences and whose national status has been confirmed by their High Commission be released immediately and those whose national status has not been confirmed, exercise in respect of their national status be finalised within one month. It should be done before the committee meets next in India. The benefit of remission in sentence be extended to all prisoners who have been convicted under any special law or military law, the panel said. For that purpose, if required, the governments should make necessary amendments to the rules. The committee noted that lists of prisoners exchanged by the two governments on March 31 were not complete and did not mention names and details of all prisoners like the date of arrest, sentence, charges and the expected date of release.
