Kathmandu, August 12

The government has enacted the Procedures on Pardon, Alteration or Commutation of Punishment, 2015 to make the process of pardoning, altering or commuting the punishment handed by any level of court and other agencies simple, clear, transparent and systematic.

However, no person will be entitled to pardon, alteration or commutation of punishment if he/she is convicted of corruption, rape, forgery of government seal and signature, organised crime, arson with a motive of killing people, offence against the state, war crime, destructive crime, human trafficking, drug smuggling, wildlife crime, and theft and smuggling of archaeological objects.

As per the procedures, all prisons will be required to maintain record-keeping of conducts of jailbirds and send updated records to Department of Prison and the concerned regional administration office every six months.

Any person, who wishes the government to pardon, deposit, alter or commute his/her sentence, may submit an application to the concerned jail which will in turn forward it to DoPM along with records of his/her conduct for necessary action.

“If DoPM finds the recommendation reasonable after examining all details, it may write to the Ministry of Home Affairs to pardon, deposit, alter or commute the applicant’s sentence,” read the procedures. MoHA will accordingly table it in the Cabinet meeting to decide whether to or not to recommend to the president for amnesty, commutation and deposition of the sentence.

The criteria for amnesty involves nature and gravity of crime, situation at the time of committing crime and its motive, and age, health, case history, conduct of the jailbird, and his/her remaining term in prison.