Demonstration To Release Prisoners
The demonstration organised by Members of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners in Coimbatore on Monday. Activists of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners on Monday staged a demonstration demanding the release of 72 prisoners belonging to minority community. The demonstrators welcomed the decision of Tamil Nadu Government to release life sentence convicts who had completed seven years rigorous imprisonment on September 15 in view of the birth centenary of former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai. The Home Secretary, in her circular to Prison Department officials, had stated that the remission and release of prisoners was not applicable to those held for offences under the Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act and communal violence. In addition, those sentenced to capital punishment and subsequently reduced to life sentence would not be eligible for release. Such a clause was making it quite evident that the Tamil Nadu Government was not willing to release the 72 minority community prisoners and four serving sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
The Constitution, guidelines of Union Government and Supreme Court judgments have never given guidelines for such a discrimination among prisoners, the demonstrators said. The demonstrators appealed to the State Government, Home Secretary and Additional Director-General of Police to remove guidelines that discriminate against prisoners on caste and communal lines.
