Following promulgation of the Law Reform Ordinance, the process of release of women prisoners involved in petty crimes has been started in Punjab with the release of 70 prisoners. As many as 25 female prisoners were released from Gujranwala jail followed by 15 from Faisalabad, 12 from Sialkot, 8 each from Sahiwal and Kot Lakhpat and 2 from Gujrat jail.
More female prisoners will be released from other prisons of the province on Tuesday. However, no women prisoners were released in Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan because legal formalities could not be completed, as sessions judges and judicial magistrates are still determining nature of crimes and sentences.
Official sources told Business Recorder here on Monday, around 350 out of 1032 women jailed in Punjab would get benefit from the ordinance. In Sindh, some 60 out of 274 women would get benefit from new Law.
There are some 33 women prisoners in various jails in Balochistan: some of them have been convicted while others are still under trial.
The Presidential Ordinance would benefit 11 women prisoners in Balochistan. In, NWFP total 334 women are languishing in jails including many charged in minor crimes.
The federal government has since provided copies of Law Reform Ordinance to concerned provincial authorities and they are taking steps for immediate release of those women, who fall in the said category, sources said.