GUWAHATI, March 26 - Dispur has asked the jail authorities to furnish all relevant information about those detained under the National Security Act (NSA) in the State.
The move was initiated to facilitate voting rights of NSA detainees and already a letter has been issued to all the jails in the State through the Office of the Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) here.
The superintendents of prison of some jails from across the State have already replied, while reports from some jails are still awaited, sources said.
Quoting the Representation of People�s Act, the sources said that as per the laid down rules, except those undergoing preventive detention, no undertrial prisoner or convict can exercise their franchise and hence, the jail authorities concerned have been directed to facilitate the same, if any NSA detainee wishes to do so.
Meanwhile, Dispur has also decided to put on hold the release exercise of nearly 200 life convicts lodged in different prisons in the State due to election code of conduct. Sources said the release exercise will now begin only after the election results are announced on May 19. It has been reliably learnt that the paper work relating to the release of the convicts is almost over.
Earlier this year, the State Government had asked all the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police to submit �conduct reports� of all the life convicts who are awaiting their release within a stipulated time.
Nearly 200 prisoners, who had undergone imprisonment for more than 14 years in aggregate, are expected to be freed in the State in a phased manner within this year. Prisons at Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Jorhat have the most number of such prisoners.
The exercise got momentum after the Supreme Court of India had restored the State Government�s discretion of releasing the life convicts last year.
