Supreme Court refuses to consider plea seeking direction to release Pakistani prisoners

New Delhi: On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to consider a plea asking the central government to order the release of Pakistani inmates who are detained in Indian jails after serving their time or being found not guilty.

A bench led by Justice MM Sundresh refused to consider the case, stating that the Supreme Court had already received a similar plea.

Advocate Nitin Mattoo submitted the plea, which called for the release of Pakistani inmates who have served their time, been found not guilty, or for whom no charges have been brought.

In the interest of justice, it should also order the Center to post the list of inmates on the Ministry of External Affairs’ website so that family members of Indian nationals detained in Pakistani prisons can be located, the plea said.

According to Mattoo, he submitted an RTI application to obtain information about the list of Pakistani inmates lingering in Indian jails, both those awaiting trial and those whose sentences have been served.

337 people are incarcerated in Indian jails, according to the list that the government released in response to the RTI application on April 23, 2024.

According to the appeal, 103 out of 337 people of Pakistani nationality have served their time and are still detained here.

The counsel claimed that he had petitioned the government for the immediate release of the Pakistani inmates and that they had not responded, so he had gone to the highest court.
According to Mattoo, he filed the plea in order to guarantee the rapid release of any inmate who has been wrongfully detained in an Indian jail.

“The state exchequers of the states where the prisoners are housed suffer direct losses as a result of the inmates who have served their terms but are still lingering in jail. Therefore, a loss to the state exchequer directly harms the general people. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 21 A of the Indian Constitution, it is unfair to the convicts to not be released to their homeland,” it continued.