NO EARLY RELEASE FOR JESSICA, MATTOO, NAINA KILLERS

NEW DELHI: The Sentence Review Board (SRB) on Thursday recommended the release of 22 jailed convicts and rejected the early release of 86 others, including prisoners Manu Sharma, Santosh Singh and Sushil Sharma, a Delhi government spokesperson said.

The seven-member sentence review board met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the release of 108 convicts. The names of the

THE SEVENMEMBER SENTENCE REVIEW BOARD MET ON THURSDAY TO DISCUSS RELEASE OF CONVICTS

convicts, who were eligible for early release under government rules, were prepared by the prison administration and presented before the board.

Three high-profile prisoners among the many who were denied an early release were Manu Sharma, convicted for model Jessica Lall’s murder, Delhi university law student Priyadarshini Mattoo’s killer Santosh Singh and former Congress youth president, Sushil Sharma, convicted for his wife Naina Sahni’s murder.

The recommendations of the board will now be sent to Delhi lieutenant governor (L-G), Anil Baijal who will approve or deny the cases of the 22 convicts cleared by the board.

Senior government officers said Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain, who is also the chairperson of the board, opposed to the release of Manu Sharma, Santosh Singh and Sushil Sharma.

According to prison records, the trio have spent 15, 14, and 23 years behind bars respectively, without remission.

“Since the name of these three prisoners have been rejected it cannot be presented before the board in the next board meeting, which will be held within three months. Their names will again be sent for consideration in six months,” said a jail officer.

Among the many prisoners hoping for an early release, Santosh Singh’s name was the latest to be added to the list.

In 2006 Singh, the son of a senior IPS officer JP Singh — who was a joint commissioner in the Delhi police — was sentenced to death by the Delhi High Court. The Supreme Court in 2010 commuted it to life imprisonment.

While Singh is lodged inside the regular prison, Manu Sharma and Sushil Sharma are lodged in the “open” and the “semi-open prisons.”