Rajkumar vs The State of Uttar Pradesh

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

6 February 2023

Case No.

Writ Petition (Criminal) No 36 of 2022

Bench

D.Y. Chandrachud, Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, J.B. Pardiwala

Citation

[2023] 6 S.C.R. 412 : 2023 INSC 718

Headnote

Uttar Pradesh Prisoners (Release on Probation) Act 1938 – Uttar Pradesh Prisoners (Release on Probation) Rules 1938 – Standing Policy formulated on 01.08.2018, amended on 27.05.2022 – Premature release of persons sentenced to suffer life imprisonment on conviction under IPC, directions issued by Supreme Court in Rashidul Jafar case – Despite the said judgment and the convicts having fulfilled the conditions of eligibility for the grant of premature release, cases were not being dealt with in terms of the policy – Held: The State having formulated Rules and a Standing Policy for deciding cases of premature release, it is bound by its own formulations of law – It is not open to the State to adopt an arbitrary yardstick for picking up cases for premature release – It must strictly abide by the terms of its policies – Each case for premature release has to be decided on the basis of the legal position as it stands on the date of the conviction subject to a more beneficial regime being provided in terms of a subsequent policy determination – The provisions of the law must be applied equally to all persons – Out of the 50 prisoners whose cases have been brought to the notice of Supreme Court, all the pending cases be disposed of on or before 30.04.2023 in terms of the directions issued – Compliance report be filed on affidavit by the Director General of Prisons – Miscellaneous Application be listed for verifying compliance – Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 – ss.433A, 423 – Constitution of India – Article 161.

Rashidul Jafar @ Chota v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. Writ Petition (Criminal) No 336 of 2019; State of Haryana v. Jagdish (2010) 4 SCC 216 : [2010] 3 SCR 716; State of Haryana v. Raj Kumar (2021) 9 SCC 292 – relied on.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR. DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, CJI 1. On 6 September 2022, this Court in its judgment in Rashidul Jafar @ Chota Vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr1 issued a slew of directions governing the premature release of persons sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life consequent upon their conviction under diverse provisions of the Indian Penal Code. 2. Following the above decision, this Court has been repeatedly moved in petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India for securing the premature release of individual convicts because their cases for pr

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