The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on Thursday a PIL seeking fairness and impartiality in the functioning of Sentence Review Board (SRB) while dealing with the issue of premature release of convicts.
The plea was mentioned before a Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao. The Bench allowed that the matter be listed for hearing on Thursday.
The petition filed by social activist Amit Sahni claimed that premature release of poor convicts was not done in a fair and impartial manner and as per the statutory order passed by the Lieutenant Governor in 2004.
The plea suggested that cases of life convicts should be considered in SRB by giving each of them a number or code and concealing his caste and religion to avoid “extraneous consideration“.
“Right to legal representation must be also given to the convict, whose cases are placed before the SRB for the purpose of consideration for premature release. Meetings of SRB must be video-graphed to ensure transparency in the working and functioning of SRB,” it said.