Film director seeks release of lifers imprisoned for over 20 yrs

COIMBATORE: Film director Seeman asked the Tamil Nadu government to take steps to release life term convicts who have served more than 20 years in prison. He said that Tamil Nadu should take example from states like Kerala where life term convicts were let out on parole or released after just seven years in prison.
The director was here on Saturday afternoon to participate in the protest organised by the Naam Thamizhar Katchi, a party he founded in 2010."Many life sentence convicts, even as old as 85 years are still languishing in jails more than two decades after they were sentenced," said Seeman. "They should be allowed to go back and be with their families and given a chance to lead a reformed life," he said. "If they are just going to be jailed till they die, the state might as well kill them," he said.
The protest, held near the Red Cross building, was described as the beginning of a series of protests they plan to conduct across the state. "We plan to conduct such protests in all districts where life sentence convicts have been jailed like Palayamkottai, Vellore, Chennai, Madurai and Trichy," he said. The party also shouted slogans stating that all special committees and fast-track courts formed to investigate big crimes should be shut down. "The government should treat all criminals equally. Why can't all accused be tried in the normal district magistrate's courts, local courts, high courts and supreme courts like other members of the public?" he asked.
The party members appealed to the state government to show a little humanity in handling convicts. "There are many countries in the world where life sentence convicts are released after 14 years or 21 years. Even our neighbour Kerala releases life sentence convicts after just seven years," he said.
Seeman also said that the state government should fight for more rights in deciding the release of prisoners. "When it is the state government who maintains the prisoners and handles all their expenses including food and clothing, why should the centre decide their fate? What happened with the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi bomb blast case is a classic exanmple," he said. "Chief minister J Jayalalithaa announced that she would release them, but DMK was scared that she would steal the thunder and so said they should not be released," he said. "Then the centre went to court and got an order against the release," he added.