Lucknow, Jan 23 (PTI) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the central government has issued an advisory to release undertrial prisoners who have served half of their maximum punishment provided under the law.

Some state governments have started with the compliance on the advisory, he said.

There are about four lakh prisoners in jails and out of them about half are undertrials.      Speaking at a function, where Singh was the chief guest to administer oath to newly elected officer bearers of the Central Bar Association at the district court here, the minister said the Centre has abolished nearly 1,500 obsolete laws which have lost their efficacy.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)