A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar, J.

These writ petitions have been placed before us pursuant to a reference order of a Division Bench of this Court dated 22.3.2011 in I.A.No.3474/2011 in W.P.(C).No.32078/2010. The W.P.(C).No.32078/2010 was filed by the wife of a convict for an offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code [hereinafter referred to as the 'IPC'], who was sentenced to imprisonment for life and serving the sentence. It was the case of the petitioner therein that the convict had been in jail for more than 16 years of actual imprisonment, and together with the period of remission earned by him, the period of sentence suffered by him would be approximately 23 years. In the writ petition, the petitioner was aggrieved by the non-consideration of her husband's case for the benefit of remission of sentence or grant of pardon, while granting such benefit to other prisoners, who, according to the writ petitioner, were either not entitled to such benefit or were equally placed as the petitioner's husband for the grant of the benefit under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [hereinafter referred to as the 'Cr.P.C.'] or under Article 161 of the Constitution of I