Salman Qureshi was about seven years old when his father Mohammed Shahabuddin Qureshi was hauled by the police on the charges of killing his wife. Eventually in 2008, the father was convicted and sentenced to life. Mr. Salman was produced as a witness to testify against his father, and he did. He is now 23 years old and married. Mr. Salman wants his father back with him.
“My father has been in the prison for the past 15 years, save a few months when he was out on parole,” he shares. Due to the absence of parents, he had to stay with grandparents, and could not complete schooling.
“I have to support my younger brother too. I am sick of living on my own without any parental guidance. My father has been punished long enough. He is now a changed man and working in the Chanchalguda prison’s petrol pump,” Mr. Salman says.
His father has spent 15 years in prison, and got a remission of over five years, which translates into completion of 20 years’ prison sentence.
Mr. Salman is only one among the many people waiting for the return of their kin from the prison. Their hopes about the customary grant of amnesty on the occasion of the Republic Day have been dashed as Telangana government has not issued any order so far towards this.
As per the data collected by the Human Rights Forum (HRF), a total 569 life convicts have been serving term in 14 State prisons for varying durations, of whom 276 have completed at least 10 years of prison term exclusive of remission. Of these, 19 have completed 25 years of conviction, and 62 have completed 20 years. Six women prisoners have completed 13 years of actual sentence excluding remission.
“My husband would have got amnesty in 2020, but he was short by one month in completing the required prison term. Last August, his name was included, but the governor rejected the amnesty granted by the State government. We had a lot of hopes this time, as it is a new Government,” said Dasari Lakshmi, another woman from Palvancha of Bhadradri Kothagudem district, whose husband Dasari Veeraiah has been in the jail for the past 14 years, on the charges of murder during a feud related to farmland boundaries. With husband in prison, and no means for survival, she had to struggle hard to bring up her three children
“I am still better off. With my husband shifted to Khammam prison, I can go twice every month to visit him. There are many prisoners who don’t even get mulaqats with their kin as the latter are too poor to afford the travel,” Ms. Lakshmi says.
“Earlier governments released prisoners on occasions of national importance. In the erstwhile united State, the then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy released 611 convicts. During Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime too, prisoners were given amnesty twice, but with very rigid conditions,” Jeevan Kumar from HRF said.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had formulated uniform guidelines for grant of amnesty to life convicts, according to which the prisoners may be considered for premature release after serving 14 years of imprisonment inclusive of remissions.
“The Commission is of the view that total period of incarceration including remissions in such cases should ordinarily not exceed 20 years,” the guidelines said, also advising on how a reasonable decision can be made to select eligible prisoners.
“We request the Government to positively consider granting amnesty to those who served more than 10 years of actual imprisonment, as a gift to their family members,” Mr. Jeevan Kumar requested.
