Kathmandu, April 17

As many as 421 inmates, including juveniles, were released from various prisons and juvenile correction facilities across the country in the face of novel coronavirus outbreak.

Pradeep Raj Kandel, director general at the Department of Prison Management said the prisoners and juvenile delinquents walked free after they were deemed eligible to enjoy remission of remaining jail terms as per the recent order of the Supreme Court and Section 115 of The Criminal Offence (Sentencing and Execution) Act-2017. As per the act, the government can rebate jail sentence of a person convicted of small-time offence and imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.

With the order of the apex court, the authority concerned may free a person from the prison or police custody depending on the gravity of criminal offence. If it does not appear necessary to detain a person in the course of investigation, the police or adjudicating authority may remand such person on bail or guarantee or on recognisance to appear on appointed days.

Kandel said prisoners and juvenile delinquents were released as per the decision of the concerned district courts or judicial bodies in line with the order of the apex court.

According to the DoPM, 421 persons, including 219 juvenile delinquents, enjoyed the pardon until yesterday. Nearly 450 convicts had submitted petition for amnesty and the DoPM released only the persons deemed eligible by the concerned district courts and judicial bodies.

Earlier, the Office of the Attorney General had also written to the investigating authorities, directing them to exercise the power of investigating authority to release persons held in detention as per Rule 25 of Criminal Offence Investigation Rules-2018, which allows the investigating authorities to carry out investigation without arresting a crime suspect. The investigating authorities include Nepal Police, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Department of Money Laundering Investigation and Department of Revenue Investigation.

The order of the OAG aims at reducing pressure of crime suspects in detention centres to avoid unnecessary crowd in the wake of global pandemic of COVID-19.

Pardon, suspension or commutation of sentence depends on the nature of the offence, age and physical condition of the offender, and his/her conduct in jail. However, any person convicted of heinous crimes such as corruption, torture, rape, cruel murder, genocide, explosives, kidnapping, hostage-taking or enforced disappearance, human trafficking and transportation, money laundering and drug smuggling will not be entitled to enjoy this facility.

Meanwhile, the CIAA today released four more detainees from its custody. With this, the number of suspects involved in corruption released by the anti-graft body until further summon order has reached 12.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.