File picture of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court today lifted its stay on premature release of life-term convicts, allowing state governments to pardon some prisoners with riders.
A group of states, led by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, had filed an application in the top court, saying that its 2014 order preventing premature release of life-sentence convicts was hindering their law and order processes.
The states had said that at least prisoners prosecuted by the state police departments should be allowed for early release depending on the discretion of the courts.
Earlier, seeking the response of all the state governments on important points on premature release of prisoners, the court had directed them not to prematurely release life-term convicts.
The order had come in the wake of a petition by the Centre last year that called for staying the release of seven convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination case.
The Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu had decided to release the seven convicts after the top court had commuted death sentences of three prisoners to life terms.
The Centre had then moved to the Supreme Court saying that the Tamil Nadu government had no power to release them since they had been charged by the CBI.
Today's interim order came during the hearing a case related to the killers of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
However, the Supreme Court said this order will not be applicable to convicts who had been sentenced to life till death, those convicted in murder and rape cases and cases probed by CBI and central agencies or under federal law.
The top court also said that the order will not give any relief to the seven people convicted for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.