India, June 12 -- The Delhi high court on Wednesday suggested that the Delhi government reconstitute the sentence review board (SRB), which handles premature release pleas of life convicts, observing that the board was mechanically rejecting applications without meaningful review.

Justice Girish Kathpalia, in a detailed 22-page order, said the SRB's current composition-dominated by senior government officials who often deputise the task-lacked the operational depth and personal engagement needed to evaluate prisoners' reformative progress. "The approach of the SRB ought to be reformation-orientated and not a routine disposal/statistics-dominated exercise," the court said.

The court's observations came while allowing the petition of a mu...