{"id":45042,"date":"2026-02-21T08:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=45042"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:53:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:23:40","slug":"sc-ruling-on-remission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sc-ruling-on-remission\/","title":{"rendered":"SC Ruling on Remission: States Must Consider Premature Release Automatically | BNSS &#038; CrPC Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Remission in India Latest News<\/li>\n<li>Law on Remission<\/li>\n<li>Supreme Court\u2019s Ruling on Remission<\/li>\n<li>Additional Directions Issued by the Supreme Court<\/li>\n<li>Prison Population in India<\/li>\n<li>Remission in India FAQs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Remission in India Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Supreme Court ruled that states must consider the premature release of eligible prisoners under their remission policies, even if they do not apply for it.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>While certain convicts are exempt, states have the authority to grant remission under the <strong>Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita<\/strong>, 2023 (BNSS) and the <strong>Code of Criminal Procedure<\/strong>, 1973 (CrPC).<\/li>\n<li>A SC bench delivered the judgment in the suo motu case In <i><strong>Re: Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail<\/strong><\/i>, initiated in 2021 to address prison overcrowding.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This ruling marks a shift in the Supreme Court\u2019s stance on remission, departing from its2013 judgments, which required prisoners to apply for remission.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Law on Remission<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Remission refers to the reduction of a convict\u2019s sentence.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Section <strong>473 of the BNSS<\/strong> (formerly Section 432 of the CrPC) empowers state governments to remit sentences at any time, with or without conditions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>If conditions are violated, the remission can be revoked, and the convict can be <strong>re-arrested without a warrant<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>State vs. Constitutional Remission Powers<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>State governments exercise remission power under BNSS and CrPC.<\/li>\n<li>On the other hand, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/pardoning-powers-of-the-president\/\" target=\"_blank\">Articles 72<\/a> <\/strong>and 161 of the Constitution grant similar powers to the President and Governor respectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Restrictions on Remission<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Under <strong>Section 475 of the BNSS<\/strong> (formerly Section 433A of the CrPC), life convicts guilty of offences punishable by death must serve at least 14 years in prison before being eligible for release.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>SC\u2019s Recent Interpretation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, remission required an application by the convict.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, the Supreme Court has now ruled that states must consider remission automatically, as most states already have remission policies with eligibility criteria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Supreme Court\u2019s Ruling on Remission<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Past Judgments on Remission<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The SC considered two 2013 rulings:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sangeet &amp; Anr. v. State of Haryana (2013):<\/strong> Held that remission under Section 432 of CrPC cannot be granted suo motu and requires a convict\u2019s application.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mohinder Singh v. State of Punjab (2013):<\/strong> Reaffirmed that courts cannot grant remission on their own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Shift in Approach<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The court observed that many state prison manuals require the prison superintendent to initiate remission proceedings.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The previous rulings in Sangeet and Mohinder Singh did not consider cases where states have structured remission policies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Why the SC Changed Its Stance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sangeet judgment aimed to prevent discretionary or mass releases on festive occasions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, when states have clear remission policies with eligibility criteria, the SC held that failing to consider remission automatically would be discriminatory and arbitrary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obligation on States<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The court ruled that states must consider remission for all eligible convicts under their policies.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Ignoring this duty would violate Article 14 (Right to Equality) of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Additional Directions Issued by the Supreme Court<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The SC directed all states to form a comprehensive remission policy within two months if they do not already have one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Guidelines for Remission Conditions<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Building on <i><strong>Mafabhai Motibhai Sagar v. State of Gujarat<\/strong> (2024)<\/i>, the court laid down that remission conditions must:\n<ul>\n<li>Consider crime motive, criminal background, and public safety.<\/li>\n<li>Aim for rehabilitation and prevent recurrence of criminal tendencies.<\/li>\n<li>Be reasonable\u2014not excessively harsh or impractical.<\/li>\n<li>Be clear and enforceable, avoiding vague or ambiguous terms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Protection Against Arbitrary Remission Cancellation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Minor violations should not automatically lead to remission cancellation.<\/li>\n<li>Convicts must receive a notice with reasons for cancellation.<\/li>\n<li>Convicts must be given a chance to respond before the state makes a final decision.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Prison Population in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-crime-records-bureau\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)<\/a><\/strong> data (2022):\n<ul>\n<li>Total inmates: 5,73,220<\/li>\n<li>Total prison capacity: 4,36,266<\/li>\n<li>Occupancy rate: 131.4% (overcrowded prisons)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Undertrial Prisoners Dominate<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>75.8% of inmates<\/strong> are <strong>undertrials<\/strong>, still awaiting final verdicts.<\/li>\n<li>The SC\u2019s new remission guidelines may help reduce overcrowding, but undertrials remain the majority.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Trends in Premature Releases<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The <i>Prison Statistics in India Report (2022)<\/i> shows:\n<ul>\n<li>2020: 2,321 prisoners released prematurely.<\/li>\n<li>2021: 2,350 prisoners released.<\/li>\n<li>2022: 5,035 prisoners released (sharp increase).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>There is no official data on how many prisoners have benefitted from remission policies over the years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/sc-states-premature-release-remission-9846901\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/scroll.in\/latest\/1079344\/states-must-consider-remission-of-eligible-convicts-even-without-their-application-supreme-court\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Scroll<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/governments-obliged-to-consider-remission-of-eligible-convicts-without-waiting-for-application-sc\/article69235035.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court orders states to consider remission automatically for eligible convicts. Learn about BNSS, CrPC, remission policies, and legal implications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45043,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[9352],"class_list":["post-45042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-sc-ruling-on-remission","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117830,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45042\/revisions\/117830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}