Prisoners on parole go missing more often
20 Jun 2012 12:58 AM GMT
With 67 prisoners missing after obtaining parole in the last five years, Tihar Prisons authorities have written to the Delhi government to amend parole rules and make them more stringent.
Sources said out of these 67 prisoners who never returned after obtaining parole, 49 inmates were granted relief by the Delhi high court, one by the lower court and 17 by the Delhi government itself.
Parole is a legal sanction that lets a prisoner leave the prison for a short duration on the condition that they behave appropriately after release and report back to the prison on termination of the parole period.
The relief is granted to a prisoner detained for any offence irrespective of the duration of imprisonment.
A prisoner may be released on parole in certain emergency situations like to complete treatment of any particular ailment, perform funeral rites, visit a sick or dying member of the family, attend important functions such as marriage or construct a house or repair a badly damaged house amongst others.
At present, there exist 11,988 inmates in all the nine jails of the Tihar Prisons. Earlier, Manu Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment for killing Jessica Lall, has a history of misusing parole conditions. Though Sharma cited personal reasons, it was rumoured that he used to party while on parole. In fact, the Delhi government asked the police for a report on whether Manu Sharma was indeed partying in the capital’s clubs while on parole.
Sunil Gupta, Tihar Prison PRO, said, ‘As the number of cases is very high, we have written both to Delhi government and High Court to amend parole rules. Some prisons were relieved on interim bail and others on parole. We want at least the amount of guarantee the prisons give should be increased a bit.’
Sources said out of these 67 prisoners who never returned after obtaining parole, 49 inmates were granted relief by the Delhi high court, one by the lower court and 17 by the Delhi government itself.
Parole is a legal sanction that lets a prisoner leave the prison for a short duration on the condition that they behave appropriately after release and report back to the prison on termination of the parole period.
The relief is granted to a prisoner detained for any offence irrespective of the duration of imprisonment.
A prisoner may be released on parole in certain emergency situations like to complete treatment of any particular ailment, perform funeral rites, visit a sick or dying member of the family, attend important functions such as marriage or construct a house or repair a badly damaged house amongst others.
At present, there exist 11,988 inmates in all the nine jails of the Tihar Prisons. Earlier, Manu Sharma, who is serving life imprisonment for killing Jessica Lall, has a history of misusing parole conditions. Though Sharma cited personal reasons, it was rumoured that he used to party while on parole. In fact, the Delhi government asked the police for a report on whether Manu Sharma was indeed partying in the capital’s clubs while on parole.
Sunil Gupta, Tihar Prison PRO, said, ‘As the number of cases is very high, we have written both to Delhi government and High Court to amend parole rules. Some prisons were relieved on interim bail and others on parole. We want at least the amount of guarantee the prisons give should be increased a bit.’
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