NEW DELHI: On the occasion of Republic Day, the government has decided to grant Special Government Remission to eligible convicts, exercising the powers conferred under Section 473 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which corresponds to Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The government stated that the remission will be applicable to convicts sentenced by courts of criminal jurisdiction in Delhi and lodged in central jails in Delhi or outside the city, who are undergoing their sentence as on January 26, subject to prescribed conditions.
Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood said that for prisoners above 65 years of age and women prisoners, the scale of remission would be as follows: 90 days for sentences above 10 years, 60 days for sentences above five years up to 10 years, 30 days for sentences above one year up to five years, and 20 days for sentences up to one year.
For all other prisoners, the remission scale will be 60 days for sentences above 10 years, 45 days for sentences above five years up to 10 years, 30 days for sentences above one year up to five years, and 15 days for sentences up to one year, the Home Minister said.
Sood clarified that the special remission will be in addition to the remission already admissible under the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018. Convicts who are on parole or furlough as on January 26, 2026, will also be eligible. The benefit will be extended only to those convicts who have not been punished for any jail offence during the preceding one year, from January 26, 2025, to January 25, 2026.
Sood said certain categories of convicts will not be eligible for remission. These include prisoners awarded the death sentence or those whose death sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment; detenues, civil prisoners, or prisoners jailed for evasion of government dues.