A bench headed by Justice Dr. DY Chandrachud passed directions as standing instructions regarding the premature release of convicts for premature release of Life Convicts.

These directions have been issued by the Apex Court on the remission policy for life convicts to be released on every Republic Day by the State Government of Utter Pradesh. The State Government of Utter Pradesh issued a policy after the approval of the Government of the State under Article 161 of the Constitution of India which includes additional criteria apart from number of years undergone by the convicts. The main directions of the order passed by the Hon'ble Court in the case of  Rashidul Jafar @ Chota v. State of U.P. And Anr. WP(Crl) No. 336/2019, are as under:-

A. All the cases for premature release of life convicts in the present batch of cases would be considered in terms of the policy dated 1st August, 2018. In the event a convict is entitled to more liberal benefits by any of the amendments subsequent to the issuance of the policy on 1st August, 2018, their application would be considered in terms of the more liberal policy. It was clarified that the requirement of attaining 60 years of age in order to be considered for early release no longer subsists.

B. There is no mandate that the convict has to submit an application to get considered for premature release. Their case would be automatically considered by the jail authorities once they are eligible as per the concerned policy.

C. The District Legal Services Authorities are to take necessary steps to coordinate with the jail authorities to ensure that all cases of eligible life convicts are considered.

D. Those cases which have already been processed and in which reports have been submitted shall be dealt with within a period of one month. The cases of eligible life convicts who are suffering from terminal illness and/or are above 70 years of age should be considered within a period of 2 months.

E. The premature release for all other eligible life convicts are to be considered expeditiously and within a period of 4 months.