Govt revives old list to remit sentences of TP case convicts

Thiruvananthapuram: In its desperate attempt to have the sentences of the convicts in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case remitted, the state government has revived an old list. This list, initially rejected by both the Kerala High Court and the Governor, has now been revised to include more names to benefit these convicts. Reports suggest that the government renewed its efforts to commute these sentences after the High Court handed down double life terms to the convicts, delivering a significant setback to them.

During the early days of the previous LDF government, a list of 1,850 prisoners was prepared for sentence remission as part of the state's diamond jubilee celebrations. However, the then Governor P Sadasivam returned the list, prompting the government to reduce it to 739 names.

This list was subsequently frozen following a High Court directive that sentence remission should only be granted with proper authorisation. However, the list resurfaced when the government decided to remit sentences for select prisoners as part of the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" celebrations. The then DGP of Prisons updated the list to 1,088 prisoners and submitted it to the government for its approval. Despite engaging a couple of scrutiny committees, no review of the list occurred for five months.

In February of this year, the High Court pronounced its order against the convicts in the TP murder case. Following this, the process for sentence remission was expedited, and two new scrutiny committees were engaged. While reviewing the existing list, these committees also requested a new list from the state’s prisons and the names of the TP case convicts were included in the list submitted from Kannur.

The remission of sentences for prisoners is granted according to criteria set by an order from the State Home Department in November 2022. Under this order, prisoners serving life sentences can receive up to a one-year remission. The TP case convicts were included in this list by using the provisions of this order as a cover.

However, the order explicitly outlines 11 categories of prisoners who are not eligible for remission. The fifth category includes those classified as professional killers or contract killers. Notably, all three TP case convicts included in the remission list fall into this category. Their names were hastily added to the list during a period when the Kannur prison had no superintendent.

Even if these convicts do not receive the waiver due to the High Court order, their mere inclusion in the list this time raises the prospects of their future release from jail. They also stand to receive `weightage' when their application is to be reviewed by the Advisory Committee, which evaluates release requests from life prisoners who have completed 14 years in jail.