Remission proposals must be decided on individualized case-specific merit, not through generalized or wholesale policy categorizations.

In brief

The question

1. Whether the State Level Review Board's generalized/wholesale rejection of remission proposals, without individualized assessment, is legally sustainable.

The court held

The court allowed the petition in part, holding that the petitioner’s claim for remission did not receive a fair or reasoned individualized consideration.

It also directed

The court directed the respondent authorities to reconsider the petitioner's case afresh and independently, strictly per the 2015 OM and uninfluenced by the Board's generalized observations, within three months.

01Facts

The petitioner is a life convict who had completed 19 years, 6 months, and 1 day of actual imprisonment and 25 years, 11 months, and 29 days including remission as of April 2025.

p. 4

Seeking premature release under Sections 432, 433, and 433-A of the Cr.P.C. and the Assam Government’s Office Memorandum (OM) dated 06.10.2015, the petitioner moved the court due to administrative delays.

p. 4

During pendency, the State produced minutes from a State Level Review Board meeting held on 19.03.2026, which revealed a "wholesale" rejection of several proposals.

p. 5

The Board had decided to only recommend "exceptional cases" such as terminal illness, effectively ignoring the petitioner’s individual conduct and reports.

pp. 5-6

02Issues

i.1. Whether the State Level Review Board's generalized/wholesale rejection of remission proposals, without individualized assessment, is legally sustainable.

p. 6, 12

ii.2. Whether a convict has a legitimate expectation for fair and reasoned consideration of remission based on existing State policies.

p. 11

03Law Applied

Sections 432, 433, and 433-A of the Cr.P.C. and Article 161 of the Constitution.

p. 7

Assam Government Office Memorandum dated 06.10.2015, specifically Clause-8, which mandates that remission proposals must be decided "case-by-case on merit" and not in a "wholesale manner".

p. 9

Bilkis Yakub Rasool v. Union of India (2024) regarding the necessity of delineated reasons for grant or refusal.

p. 12

Dwarka Nath v. ITO (1966) regarding the wide powers of a Writ Court to remedy injustice regardless of procedural technicalities.

pp. 13-14

Provisions in the judgment · 3 · Linked ones open on LawLens

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Section 432 Section 433

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 Section 473

04Reasoning

The court found that the Review Board failed to exercise its jurisdiction correctly by adopting a "wholesale approach" rather than an individualized assessment.

p. 6

Although the petitioner had earned significant remission (1830 days) and maintained satisfactory conduct, the Board's minutes showed no specific discussion of his case.

p. 11

The Board unilaterally restricted remissions to "exceptional categories" (e.g., cancer patients), which the court held was a misconstruction of the 2015 OM.

p. 10

The court reasoned that as long as the 2015 OM is operative, the State cannot ignore its own identifiable parameters.

p. 11

The lack of recorded reasons in the rejection order violated the "live link" between material facts and legal conclusions, rendering the process arbitrary and a violation of Articles 14 and 21.

pp. 11-12

05Holding

The court allowed the petition in part, holding that the petitioner’s claim for remission did not receive a fair or reasoned individualized consideration.

p. 14

LawLens.Gauhati High Court

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