In reply to information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act by advocate H C Arora of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the authorities of District Jail, Hoshiarpur, have admitted that they have been releasing such convicts prematurely. In one such instance, one Jasvir Kumar, resident of Mehla Wali village, Sadar Hoshiarpur, who was convicted and sentenced to five years for a dowry death under Section 304-B on December 12, 2003, was released. He was granted remission for a period of 15 months and 20 days and was prematurely released on January 6, 2004. Another prisoner, Swaran Singh, who was convicted on November 19, 2005 and sentenced to seven years, was granted remission for a period of five months and 28 days and is due to be released on January 25, 2010. His wife, Pritam Kaur, who was party to the heinous crime and who was convicted on the same date for seven years, has also got the benefit of remission for a period of five months and four days, and is due to be released on February 23, 2011.

“Grant of remissions to prisoners is a serious matter. The Jail Superintendents can’t take it casually. A prisoner once released prematurely by granting remission cannot possibly be brought back to jail,” said Arora.

A circular dated April 11, 2007 issued by the Department of Home Affairs, Government of Punjab, categorically asserts that “these remissions are not admissible in cases of offence under Section 304 (b) of the Indian Penal Code, ie, a dowry death”. Similar is the phraseology used in all the previous six circulars issued during the last five years for granting remissions to prisoners on various occasions.

The Superintendent of Central Jail, Gurdaspur, says assertively in response to a query raised by Arora, through the RTI application, that “All the seven convicts lodged in this jail and convicted of offence under Section 304-B are undergoing their imprisonment as they have not been granted government remission.”