New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all states to ascertain if there is any convict languishing in prisons beyond the fixed term of sentence as it underlined that such prisoners would be entitled to release without seeking any further order for remission. The court order came in a petition filed by Sukhdev Yadav, a convict in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case, whose life term was converted by the top court in October 2016 to a fixed term sentence of 20 years. During this period, he was not entitled to any remission. This period ended on March 9 following which he applied for remission and the same was rejected by the Delhi government. After he approached the top court, he was granted furlough on June 26 and on July 29 he was ordered to be released. Passing a detailed judgment giving reasons for releasing Yadav, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and KV Viswanathan said, "On completion of 20 years of sentence, it was wholly unnecessary to seek remission as during the period of 20 years, he was not entitled to any remission." The court went on to hold, "From March 9, 2025 (when he completed 20 years sentence), he cannot be kept in jail. His continuous incarceration after March 9 till June 25 (when he got released on furlough) was illegal." His plea for release was objected to by the Delhi government which said that the 20 years sentence was a stipulated within the life term during which he will not be entitled to remission. Once he has undergone this period, his remission has to be considered by the Sentence Review Board (SRB), as was done in the case of Yadav when the SRB refused him premature release on March 28 on the ground that he has "potential to commit crime"....