Maharashtra government has no information on convicts’ remission

In the backdrop of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s release over three months ahead of his prison term, an RTI query has revealed that the Maharashtra government has no record of other convicts having been granted remission on account of good behaviour. Additional director-general (prisons) Bhushankumar Upadhyay said there are a large number of jails in the state and that there was no provision with the government to compile all records.

Dutt was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and served a 42-month sentence at Pune jail. He was released on February 25, 103 days ahead of his prison term.

RTI activist Mansoor Darvesh had filed a query with the state law and judiciary department, seeking details of convicts who had secured early release from prison on account of their good conduct.

He also sought the number of applications that are pending for remission of convicts and the reason for not granting it to them, along with the list of convicts whose sentence could not be remitted on account of defaults on their part to pay the penalty in the last five years.

The query was forwarded to the state home department and then to the office of additional director general of police and inspector general of prisons. In its response, it was stated that the department had not kept records of convicts who had been granted remission.

“The information sought is not compiled and thus not available,” the letter received from the office of additional DGP stated, while adding that a list of 43 prisons across the state had been provided and necessary information could be obtained from there.

Mr Darvesh claimed that the government’s failure to keep records of convicts granted remission means that not a single person had been freed early on the grounds. “Is it that the government only keeps records of celebrities being granted remission Giving a list of 43 prisons and asking an applicant to contact each prison is a lame excuse by the government to shrug responsibility off its own shoulders as not a single prisoner has been released early on account of good behaviour in the last five years,” he said.

Mr Upadhyay said that remission is an important and well-documented activity of a jail and anybody can contact the jail administration and seek details. “Remission is granted at the level of jail authorities and records are not with the government as there are no provisions of keeping centralised records. But not keeping records does not mean nobody has been granted remission,” he said.