Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday imposed a ban on premature release of prisoners from various jails in the state until further orders by it.
A division bench of the court imposed the ban in an interim order on a public interest plea, which alleged that the state government was planning to grant clemency to several prisoners, including those convicted of gruesome crimes.
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The Kerala government had recommended the commuting of sentences of notorious criminals such as T.P. Chandrasekharan murder convicts and controversial businessman Mohammed Nisham.
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The LDF government's list of f 1,850 convicts, that was rejected by Kerala governor P. Sathasivam, included 11 criminals convicted for hacking to death CPM dissident T.P. Chandrasekharan.
While passing the interim order on the plea by Thrissur resident P.D. Joseph, the HC bench also asked the authorities to provide it the jail manual and other relevant documents and posted the matter for next hearing on April 12.
The bench said the government can continue to process the applications for premature release but not effect the actual release.