Power of Government to release by licence on conditions imposed by them

Notwithstanding anything contained in section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, where a person is confined in prison under a sentence of imprisonment and it appears to the State Government from his antecedents and his conduct in the prison that he is likely to abstain from crime and lead a peaceable life, if he is released from prison, the State Government may by licence permit him to be released on condition that he be placed under the supervision or authority of any Government Officer or of a secular institution or of a person or society professing the same religion as the prisoner, willing to take charge of him.