The Allahabad High Court has expressed "utter dissatisfaction" over large number of prisoners lodged in over-crowded UP jails for more than 14 years.
"We do not see what benefit the state gains in rejecting the applications for release in a routine manner when prisons all over the state are keeping prisoners double their capacities, giving rise to law and order problems due to over-crowding," a division Bench comprising Justices Amar Saran and N A Moonis said in a judgement on January 12.
"It is also irrational to cast an undue burden on the state exchequer by detaining such persons in jail who may, after their long incarceration, have lost any further potential to commit a crime," the court said.
"We must express our utter dissatisfaction with the cursory nature of the reply furnished by the state government in respect of the 583 lifer prisoners who have undergone the sentence for more than 14 years," it said.
"We think that refusing to release such prisoners by simply stating that enmities or a law and order problem still persisted was to treat this serious matter too lightly," the court said.
Fixing February 14 as the next date of hearing, the court asked the Director General (Prisons) and Principal Secretary (Home) to file their affidavits explaining why there have been delays in deciding such matters and what steps have been taken for the speedy disposal of these.
The court also sought details regarding the cases of Sidh Gopal Dwivedi and Ram Singh, who have been in jail for 29 years and 21 years respectively.
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