PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has rejected requests from a bunch of prisoners who were granted parole on account of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown earlier this year to have their parole extended.
A bunch of prisoners had approached the High Court at Goa challenging a decision by the high powered committee which had ruled that they had already been granted sufficient time out on parole and that they would now need to return to prison.
“We hold that the parole will have to come to an end, as recommended by the High-Powered Committee. As the petitioners have, in the end, pleaded for some reasonable time to surrender, their parole will end by 23.12.2020. On that day, before 6 pm,the petitioners shall surrender to serve the remainder of their sentences,” the High Court bench of Justices M S Jawalkar and Dama Seshadri Naidu, said.
In March 2020, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the conditions in the Indian Prisons in the wake of the spreading pandemic ” Covid-19. Later, on23/03/2020, to contain the spreading contagion in the closed confines of jails, the Apex court issued specific directions to all the states and union territories in the Country. As a part of those directions, the Supreme Court constituted a High-Powered Committee. This Committee was tasked with determining which class of prisoners could be released on parole or interim bail for periods as may be appropriate.
The authorities extended this parole coterminous with the lockdown the nation had been put under. This extension was based on the recommendation made by the High-Powered Committee. On November 16, based on the review undertaken by the High-Powered Committee, the authorities asked them to return to the prison. Aggrieved, the petitioners approached the High Court.
The petitioners argued that there ought to have been a specific scheme in consultation with the health expert of the State to ensure that the inmates are safe from the contagion. The argued that the jail has already been overcrowded and it is virtually impossible for the jail authorities to maintain social distancing among the inmates
The petitioners also said that none of them has abused the parole and, in fact, they are willing to go back to serve the remainder of their sentences, but they should not be exposed to the potential threat of another outbreak, given the inadequate facilities the jail has.
However, the State government assured the Court that the State of Goa as well as the jail authorities have been conscious of the risks, and they have already taken enough remedial measures.
The court finally ruled that while the parole could end, the prisoners could apply for fresh parole on sympathetic grounds and other remedies available to them.
“Indisputably, a convict could have the parole for 30 days, extendable up to 90 days. In this case, all the petitioners have been on parole for more than the statutorily permissible period.
That apart, the High-Powered Committee”comprising top judicial and administrative, including the police, members”has reviewed the situation and opined that sufficient safeguards have been put in place and that the petitioner, nor on parole, must return to the prison. It is an exercise of administrative discretion which does not suffer from any legal infirmities,” the High Court said.
“We accept that the petitioners have been on parole without ever abusing it. That said, under the changed circumstances, a High-Powered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court has consulted the stakeholders and eventually decided that the parole cannot be extended. Even statutorily speaking, indefinite extension even in the name of a pandemic is impermissible. At best, this Court is concerned with the health and safety of all jail inmates, including the petitioners. For that, it may as well require the authorities concerned, both the jail and the Government officials, to follow scrupulously the guidelines concerning COVID protocol and ensure that neither the inmates nor the petitioners now surrendering are exposed to any danger,” the High Court said.
