LUCKNOW, June 25 -- Sending a strong message on crimes against children, the Uttar Pradesh government has rejected the premature release pleas of two life convicts in separate cases involving the rape, murder and killing of minor girls, holding that the passage of time cannot dilute the savagery of such offences, senior officials of the prison administration and reform services department said here on Thursday.

Orders issued on June 24 denied remission to Sappu alias Sitaram, lodged in Bareilly district jail, and Pawan Kumar, lodged in Fatehgarh Central Jail. The government held that the gravity and brutality of the offences outweighed considerations for early release.

Sappu was convicted in Shahjahanpur for the rape and murder of a 10-...