Supreme Court dismisses PIL on Andhra Pradesh prisoners

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed as infructuous a public interest petition filed in 2007 challenging a G.O. issued by the then undivided Andhra Pradesh government to grant remission of sentence to about 1,500 convicted prisoners lodged in various jails in the state to commemorate the “150 years of First War of Independence”.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices AM Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud dismissed the PIL filed by advocate R. Chandrashekar Reddy after AP counsel Guntur Prabhakar Rao informed the court that this G.O. had become infructuous as it was not acted upon.

Subsequent orders were passed after bifurcation by the states of AP and Telangana and acted upon by the two governments.

The petitioner questioned the notification (G.O.Ms No. 196 and 197) issued by the state government on August 7, 2007 for releasing the convicts, including hardcore and notorious criminals facing sentence of varying periods for heinous crimes. The court on August 16, 2007 had stayed the G.O.

During the resumed hearing on Monday, the petitioner said that he was concerned about the release of such large number of prisoners out of the 6,500 prisoners in the state, without knowing the sentiments of the victims and their family members, its impact on society and the police machinery. This could have an adverse effect on the criminal justice system. The CJI told the counsel that nothing survived in the petition as it was not acted upon.