940 lifers to be freed today

Hyderabad, Oct 1 :

 Decks have finally been cleared for the release of 940 prisoners, including 28 women, who are undergoing life imprisonment in various jails in the State for good behaviour. All of them will be freed on Friday, October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi. 

The Rosaiah Government on Thursday issued the orders to this effect after the State Governor initialled the relevant letter. Though the list of the lifers who will freed from the prison on Friday has not been released to the media, sources say Pavan Kumar Reddy and his five associates, all undergoing imprisonment in the sensational Jubilee Hills car bomb case, are likely to be freed, for their ‘good behaviour’.

It is not clear yet whether Maddelacheru Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri and some Maoist prisoners will also be released from the jail. But the preliminary information available with the TNN is that Suri and some Naxal convicts are being freed. However, senior leader of the Maoists, Ganapathi, is not being released.

The Home Minister, Mrs Sabitha Indra Reddy, told media persons that a screening committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Home) has cleared the list of the eligible prisoners submitted by different jails. The jails have submitted the names of the eligible prisoners to be freed within the guidelines framed by the State Government, she added.

The list was later approved by the State Cabinet way back in August this year itself but the release was delayed due to some technical problems. (The prisoners release order was challenged before the Supreme Court which quashed the petition). However, the cut off date for the release now has been fixed as August 15, 2009, the Home Minister clarified.  

Explaining about the norms set by the Government for the eligibility of the prisoners, she said that convicts sentenced for the murder of government employees and public representatives, those undergoing imprisonment for communal murders, are not eligible for the release while those sentenced for life imprisonment under the Central Acts are also not entitled for the remission.

The life convicts to be freed from various jails are: 110 from Charlapalli Jail, 116 from Charlapalli Open Jail, both in Hyderabad, four from Hyderabad Woman Prison, 73 from Warangal Central Prison, 196 from Rajahmundry Central Jail, nine from Rajahmundry Woman Prison, 67 from Visakhapatnam Jail, 95 from Kadapa prison, 43 from Nellore District Jail, 202 from Ananthapur jail and nine from Khammam District Jail. All those who are freed should report at the respective police stations for every three months, Mrs Sabitha said adding that if they are again involved in any case they will be taken into custody.