Srinagar: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all states and Union territories to identify and immediately release convicts who have completed their prison terms, provided they are not wanted in any other cases’.
The directive, as reported by several media outlets, came while hearing a plea by Sukhdev Pehalwan, convicted in the Nitish Katara murder case. A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice KV Viswanathan stressed that no one should remain in jail beyond the period mandated by law, ordering Pehalwan’s release as he had already served his full term.
To ensure compliance, the court ordered the communication of its directive to home secretaries of all states and UTs, and to the Member Secretary of NALSA, who will relay it to all District Legal Services Authorities for execution.
