Title: Need to review cases of prisoners who are still languishing under the TADA.
SHRI E. AHAMED : Sir, I would like to raise a matter of urgent public importance, which I have raised in this House in the Eleventh Lok Sabha also.
I would like to know about the Government’s policy regarding those prisoners who are still languishing under the TADA. Though TADA has been allowed to be lapsed, thousands of prisoners are still languishing in the jails. The Government should either review their cases and if they are found guilty, they should be convicted, or they should be released. Ours is a democratic State and we are proud of the fact that we are having this democratic process. But in the matter of TADA prisoners, whichever Government comes into power, they are really passive and lethargic.
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Sir, human rights should be given priority and we should respect them. It is almost like saying `Long live the King’ after the King is dead. TADA has been allowed to be lapsed, but the prisoners are still languishing in the jails.
I would like to know about the policy of this Government on this matter, whether their cases would be reviewed immediately from the point of human rights and whether natural justice would be done to them. This is the only issue that I would like to raise here. These TADA prisoners are languishing in the jails. Right from the coolie to the cine-star have been arrested under TADA, and whoever was in a position to get out of it has already gone. But the poor people and those who are not even connected with it, including the minors, are still languishing in the jails.
Therefore, I would like to urge upon the Government to consider this matter sympathetically.
I wish to raise one more matter of propriety.
MR. SPEAKER: There are a number of other Members and please allow them to speak.