New Delhi: The Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana government has approved a proposal to extend the duration of special parole or interim bail granted to prisoners released during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic till December 31, 2020. A total of 7,000 prisoners are out on parole or interim bail.
Speaking to reporters, an official said that the special parole or interim bail of 1,459 under trial prisoners and 3,126 convicts will be extended. Majority of these prisoners were released in April on interim or regular bail, parole, or extended parole.
These prisoners have been granted special parole or interim bail on the directions issued by the Supreme Court of India on March 23, 2020, on a suo motu matter to decongest the prisons amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chief Minister, on the recommendation of the High Powered Committee, headed by Justice Daya Chaudhary, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh and Executive Chairman, Haryana State Legal Services Authority, Panchkula, in its meeting dated November 12, 2020, has approved a proposal in this regard, an official spokesman said.
However, concerned authorities shall be free to cancel the special parole or interim bail as the case may be, in case any complaint regarding misuse of special parole or interim bail is received against any convict or under trial prisoner, the spokesperson said.
Earlier, the state government had decided to release convicted prisoners with up to seven years of sentence and undertrials liable to get long jail terms on conviction. Foreign prisoners, however, are not included in this. Also, prisoners convicted in cases like drug smuggling, rape, acid attack are not among those released.
(With agency inputs)