The 35th meeting of the Jharkhand State Sentence Review Board, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren at the Chief Minister’s residential office on Kanke Road, concluded with the decision to release 51 prisoners serving life sentences across the state.
The meeting undertook a detailed review of 103 cases, including 37 new cases and 66 cases previously rejected in earlier board sessions. Each case was examined in detail, taking into account the nature of the prisoner’s offence, recommendations from courts, inputs from district police chiefs, jail superintendents, and probation officers, as well as the age, family, social, and educational background of the prisoners. Following extensive deliberations, the Chief Minister approved the release of 51 prisoners.
Officials present at the meeting included Chief Minister Soren, Additional Chief Secretary Avinash Kumar, Principal Secretary of Home, Jail, and Disaster Management Vandana Dadel, DGP Anurag Gupta, Principal Secretary-cum-Legal Adviser Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, Inspector General of Prisons Sudarshan Prasad Mandal, Judicial Commissioner Anil Kumar Mishra, and the Principal Probation Officer, among others.
Chief Minister Soren instructed officials to encourage the released prisoners to reintegrate into society and lead productive lives. He emphasised that prisoners who have served 14 years or more, are of advanced age, and have demonstrated good behavior in jail, should be provided support for a smooth transition. The Chief Minister also noted that certain prisoners have medical or mental health conditions, and directed that proper treatment plans be implemented before their release to ensure they can lead normal lives. Officials were further instructed to connect all released prisoners with social security schemes.
Since 2019, a total of 619 prisoners have been released from various state jails following board approval. Of these, 558 have undergone physical verification, while 61 cases are pending verification. Officials reported that 470 of the released prisoners have already been linked to government social security benefits such as old-age pensions, widow pensions, ration cards, Ayushman Bharat health coverage, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and MGNREGA e-Shram cards. Efforts are ongoing to extend these benefits to the remaining released prisoners.
The decision marks a continued effort by the state government to review life-term sentences and facilitate prisoner rehabilitation through both release and social reintegration measures.