Jharkhand govt to release 39 convicts serving life terms

Ranchi, Aug 5 (PTI) The Jharkhand government on Monday decided to release 39 convicts serving life terms in various prisons across the state, after reviewing 74 such cases.

The decision to release the convicts was taken at a meeting of the Jharkhand State Sentence Review Board, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

"In the meeting, a review was done regarding the release of 74 prisoners serving life sentence in various jails of the state. Chief Minister Soren... after thorough discussions and review with the officials... gave his approval to the decision to release 39 prisoners," an official statement said.

Soren also directed officials concerned to verify the family background, social and economic status of the prisoners released.

A special action plan should be made for income generation of the released prisoners, he said.

They should be linked to skill development programmes and provided the benefit of schemes like dairy farming, poultry farming and animal husbandry, the CM said.

He also asked the officials to ensure that after being released from prison, they should not face any social stigma. PTI NAM RBT