Kathmandu, March 15
The government is preparing to amend the Criminal Court to make it possible for it to waive jail term of inmates who have already served 50 per cent of their sentence.
According to Home Ministry Secretary Prem Kumar Rai, the government is taking this decision because the jails in the country were getting overcrowded. “The government is amending the law because the prisons in the country are in a dire situation. The amendment will allow the government to release prisoners who have served half of their jail sentence,” added Rai speaking at the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee in Parliament.
Prevailing laws only allow the government to waive by 25 per cent of an inmate’s jail sentence. The government has been trying to amend the provision as most jails in the country are holding twice the number of inmates it can accommodate..
“Currently we have over 19,000 prisoners but our jails can only accommodate 12,000 prisoners,” added Rai.
