The Centre is considering amending the Criminal Procedure Code to provide amnesty to the large number of people detained in jails due to delay in the filing of charge sheets, Home Minister Shivraj Patil informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, he said the amendment being proposed was that if an accused had served more than half his prison term for which he had been charged, some amnesty could be given to the person.

It is also being proposed that cases against those languishing in jail for years without being charge sheeted for cases of murder, for which the prison term ranged from 10 to 14 years, should be completely withdrawn, he said.

Since the matter involved police and judiciary, the government will hold consultations with all those concerned before taking a decision, the minister said.

On the implementation of the Justice V S Malimath Committee report on revamping the criminal justice system, Patil said since police and public order were state subjects, the recommendations had been sent to states for further action.