Similarly he has also demanded release of Indian prisoners who have completed 15 years of sentences in Pakistan.

Prof Singh said that he would submit a petition to the President Pranab Mukherjee seeking his intervention under Article 72 of the Constitution for the release of all foreign prisoners who have completed 15 years of sentences. Most of these prisoners are from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Article 72 vests unlimited powers with the President which says, “The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.”

According to Prof Singh there are 264 foreign prisoners in Indian jails, out of which 240 are from Pakistan and PoK. Seventeen such prisoners have completed 15 years of imprisonment. Sanaullah Ranjay who died had also completed 15 years in custody.

“The tragic assult on Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani jail and retaliatory attack on a Pakistani prisoner, Sanaullah Ranjay in Central Kot Bhalwal, Jammu should be an eye opening tragedies for both India and Pakistan. The trial of Sarabjit was vitiated and unfair. Had the Government of India cared to engage a lawyer for Sarabjit to conduct his trial in Pakistan, the situation and the consequences would have been different. The murder of Sarabjit is a state conspiracy wheras assault on SAnaullah was a retaliatory act by an individual which could have been averted had the Government of Jammu and Kashmir taken due precaution,” said Prof Singh in a statement.

As a Senior Executive Member of Supreme Court Bar Association and Executive Chairman of J&K State Legal Aid Committee, Prof Singh a prisoner who spent 15 years of sentence has in fact undergone a sentence of 20 years, five years being remission allowed under Punjab Jail Manual which is applicable in India as well as in Pakistan. He said that the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Government on his petition which has sought the relief for all those Pakistani prisoners who have completed 15 years or more in jails. He has demanded their repatriation because they have completed the life sentences as provided in Section 57 of the Indian Penal Code.

The J&K leader also said that several verdicts of the Supreme Court have said that minimum sentence by a life prisoner should be 14 years.