A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Delhi HC seeking direction to the Delhi govt & the Director General of Prisons to convene the meeting of Sentence Review Board (SRB) every 3 months in compliance with the rules.
The plea said as per the Sentence Review Board (SRB) order of July 16, 2004 & Delhi Prison Rules, 2018, the board shall meet at least once in a quarter to convene the meeting & pointed out that between Oct 2018 to Oct 2019, the board had convened only once on July 19 this year.
A bench of CJ D N Patel & Justice C Hari Shankar is likely to hear on Monday the petition filed by advocate Amit Sahni.
The Sentence Review Board (SRB) was constituted to review the sentence awarded to a prisoner undergoing life imprisonment & make recommendations about cases of premature release in appropriate cases.
"The respondents (Delhi govt & Director General of Prisons) are duty bound to comply with the notification/rules but to the reasons best known to the respondents, between Oct 2018 to Oct 2019 the Sentence Review Board (SRB) had convened only once, that is, July 19, 2019, thereby causing hardship to those, who otherwise qualify all parameters for consideration but aren't considered since Sentence Review Board (SRB) meetings aren't convened in every quarter as envisaged under the Sentence Review Board (SRB) Order dated July 16, 2004 & Delhi Prison Rules, 2018," the petition said.
According to the Sentence Review Board (SRB) order & the prison rules, it shall be open to the chairman of the board to convene the meeting more frequently as may be deemed necessary, it added.
The petitioner said he has made a representation to the authorities on Oct 4, requesting them to implement the mandate of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) order & the prison rules & ensure that the board meeting is convened in every quarter without fail.
He said the authorities have not responded to the representation yet.
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