Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has sought clarification on the State's proposal to remit the sentence of selected prisoners in connection with the 75th Independence Day celebrations.
The government had initially considered at least 67 prisoners for pardon. Later, the administration whittled down the list to 33.
The Raj Bhavan has asked for more clarification on the process. It wants to examine whether the administration had followed the guidelines set by the High Court for extending clemency. It also wanted to examine the criteria applied by the government for giving amnesty to convicts while denying leniency to others.
An official said Mr. Khan's request was not prisoner-specific. The government would answer the Raj Bhavan's queries.
Liquor-tragedy convict
Mr. Khan's purportedly routine query to the government became news primarily because the remission list included the name of Chandran, alias Manichan, the main convict in the 2000 Kalluvathukkal liquor tragedy. At least 31 people had died in the incident, and 500 sustained debilitating trauma, including loss of eyesight, after consuming spurious liquor at a speakeasy at Kalluvathukkal in the Attingal police station limits.
An official said the relatives of prisoners who were denied remission might have petitioned the Raj Bhavan, airing scepticism about the fairness of the procedure.
