Kolkata: Six convicts caught dealing in essential commodities, like rice and oil, without a licence in the 1980s and 1990s were released on probation by the Calcutta High Court. The court determined that keeping them in custody to serve their sentences, ranging from three months to two years, would be of no help.Justice Ananya Bandopadhyay, on April 21, disposed of six different cases pertaining to convicts who were arrested for not being able to produce a licence for dealing with essential commodities in cases 30-40 years ago. The convicts were released on probation under section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, which empowers a court to release an offender on probation of good conduct instead of immediately sentencing them.This section allows for release on probation when an offence is not punishable by death or life imprisonment, and the court deems it expedient to release them on probation, considering the circumstances of the case.Those released on probation include Dilip Kumar Jana, a Midnapore resident who was sentenced to one year of simple imprisonment and fined Rs 500 in 1989; Anil Kumar Mondal, who was convicted in 1998 and sentenced for three months and fined Rs 1,000; Biva Das, who was convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a 1988 case; Sambhu Show, who was sentenced to three months of imprisonment by a Special Court under the Essential Commodities Act, Howrah, in 1990; Sunil Barman, who was sentenced by Cooch Behar court for three months with a fine of Rs 300 in 1995; Gopal Mondal, who was sentenced for a year in 1985.