The Supreme Court on Thursday directed all states and union territories to formulate and notify, within three months, a uniform policy for early release of terminally ill or advanced-age prisoners, saying such prisoners deserve a humane and time-bound mechanism to secure pardon or release on humanitarian grounds.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ordered that every government policy must contain a clear and uniform definition of “terminal illness,” set objective eligibility criteria, mandate issuance of certificates by medical boards, and establish specific timelines and procedures for considering applications for remission or compassionate release.
In pronouncing the judgement, the court also directed that policies should be formulated and implemented in coordination with State Legal Services Authorities (SLSAs).
“All states and union territories shall within three months formulate and notify a policy for early release of elderly and terminally ill prisoners. Such policies shall be coordinated with the SSAs. Such policy shall provide a clear and uniform definition of chronic diseases and certain criteria,” the court directed.
Read also: The SC completes India’s first night safari project at the Cockerel Forest in Lucknow
The court also ordered that the policy would mandate medical councils to certify terminal illness and establish timelines and procedures for early and timely release into remission or on compassionate grounds.
To facilitate implementation, the court directed the Union government to provide all necessary technical support and digital infrastructure, including activation of the online portal to enable tracking of applications seeking such relief.
The court also directed the Centre, states and union territories to file compliance returns within six months indicating the number of prisoners identified under the policy, those who have been released and whose cases are pending. The order was posted on January 19, 2027 to monitor compliance.
The directives were based on a petition by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), which, after inspections of prisons across the country, indicated that there was no uniform framework for dealing with elderly and terminally ill prisoners.
When the court took up the matter in May last year, NALSA told it that a nationwide survey had identified 456 prisoners, including those awaiting trial, who were either terminally ill or over the age of 70. Among the convicts alone, the survey found 13 terminally ill prisoners and 84 elderly prisoners.
The petition asserted that allowing deserving prisoners to spend their final days with their families serves humanitarian and constitutional goals, while also helping to address prison overcrowding. He noted that the occupancy rate in India’s prisons stood at 131% as of December 31, 2022, and that elderly and terminally ill inmates often require specialized medical care and constant attention, which prison authorities cannot provide.
NALSA launched a nationwide campaign between December 2024 and March 2025, directing state and district legal services authorities to inspect prisons and identify inmates who fall into these categories. It also highlighted individual cases where legal services authorities had approached the Constitutional Courts to secure relief for elderly and terminally ill prisoners, including a 93-year-old woman convict in Karnataka who is on trial for her terminal illness before the Calcutta High Court.
The petition urged the Supreme Court to develop a unified mechanism that would enable the courts of first instance and the competent authorities to consider the release of these prisoners on bail, pardon or release on humanitarian grounds, subject to appropriate guarantees and conditions.
With Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court has now asked every state and union territory to institutionalize such a framework within a stipulated time frame, while putting in place a digital monitoring mechanism to ensure that applications are processed without undue delay.
