LALJIT SINGH BHULLAR INTRODUCES ‘THE TRANSFER OF PRISONERS (PUNJAB AMENDMENT) BILL 2025’, PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE WAS LEGAL AUTHORIZATION TO TRANSFER PRISONERS ACROSS STATE BOUNDARIES: JAIL MINISTER
Chandigarh, March 28:
The Punjab government has legalized the transfer of prisoners from its state jails to other states. The ‘Transfer of Prisoners (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2025’, introduced by Punjab Jails Minister S. Laljit Singh Bhullar, was unanimously passed by the Punjab Legislative Assembly today.
S. Bhullar said, Punjab being a border state is confronting severe internal security challenges and various Punjab jails currently house high-risk inmates including those involved in anti-national activities, individuals linked with international agencies, terrorists, category ‘A’ gangsters, smugglers and dangerous criminals who attempt to operate their criminal networks from within prisons.
S. Bhullar informed that amending the Prisoners Transfer Act of 1950 had become imperative to establish a legal mechanism for transferring undertrial prisoners between states. “The existing legislation lacked provisions allowing Punjab’s imprisoned undertrials to be relocated to jails in other states”, he noted.
The Jail Minister further said that these amendments were crucial, considering the potential threats to law and order and the state’s security and to ensure the smooth functioning of the prison system. The bill’s core purpose was to provide legal authorization for transferring undertrial prisoners from Punjab to other states, he added.
