Undertrial period won’t be counted for pardon: HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court said on Friday that the period spent behind bars by a prisoner as an undertrial will not be considered while granting remission.

However, the period will be still "set off against the total period of sentence", a division bench headed by Justice Surya Kant held.

At present, if an accused is held guilty and awarded sentence, the period spent by him in jail prior to his sentence is also counted at the time of giving pardon.

The court also reiterated the jail manual to make it clear that "remission shall not exceed one-fourth part of one's sentence".

While an Inspector General of Prisons is empowered to grant remission, this could not be more than one-third of the total sentence. The directions were passed on a petition filed by a rape convict serving time in a Haryana jail, Dharam Pal Singh. He had sought jail authorities should count and award remission on the period that he had already spent in prison as an undertrial.

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