VIJAYAWADA: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has urged the Andhra Pradesh government to release S Chalapathi Rao and G Vijayavardhana Rao, who have been imprisoned for 32 years in connection with the 1992 Chilakaluripeta bus burning case.
The appeal comes in the wake of a High Court judgment on April 9, 2025, which ruled that remission policies applicable at the time of a convict’s sentencing or commutation must govern premature release decisions.
The duo, initially sentenced to death in 1995, had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment in 1998 by then President KR Narayanan.
At that time, G.O. Ms. No. 193 (1997) allowed premature release of life convicts—a provision no longer present in later policies.
Despite completing more than three decades in prison and showing signs of reform, both men have been denied parole and release.
HRF pointed out that as of October 2021, at least eight convicts, including Rao, Vijayavardhana Rao, and MT Krishna Kutty, had served over 20 years without release consideration.
The organisation called on the government to honour the court’s directive and uphold the humanitarian principles of the CrPC/BNSS and National Human Rights Commission guidelines on premature release.