‘Humanity is not Invisible’: HC censures ‘Mechanical’ Remission Rejections, Frees Life Convict after 22 years.

Recently, after over 22 years of incarceration, a life convict found relief as the Delhi High Court stepped in, holding that his continued imprisonment despite evident reformation could not be sustained. The intervention brings into focus the troubling gaps in the remission process, where even rehabilitated inmates risk being overlooked, raising serious concerns about fairness and accountability within the system.

The case centred on a convict whose repeated pleas for remission were rejected by the Sentence Review Board (SRB), despite long incarceration, consistent good conduct, and demonstrated rehabilitation. The petitioner had spent more than two decades in custody, including time in a semi-open prison, and had even been granted temporary bail during the pandemic without any adverse conduct. However, the SRB continued to deny relief, allegedly relying only on the gravity of the original offence while overlooking mandatory considerations such as reformation, behaviour, and likelihood of reoffending.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna found the SRB’s approach deeply flawed, observing that its decisions were mechanical and devoid of meaningful reasoning. The Court remarked that “the man, the life and his existence as a human being remains totally invisible,” criticising the authority for reducing inmates to mere case numbers. It further held that continued detention despite fulfilment of remission criteria infringed the convict’s right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Concluding that the rejection orders were arbitrary and violative of natural justice, the Court directed the immediate release of the convict.

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