MUMBAI: A group of prisoners on emergency Covid-19 parole has challenged the state's May 4 circular requiring all inmates who had been given temporary parole or bail to surrender within 15 days. It is scheduled to be heard by the HC vacation bench of Justices Nitin Sambre and A L Pansare on Tuesday.
The petition said the state has not considered the overcrowding of jails and ignored specific orders of the Supreme Court, which in July 2021 had directed that till further orders such convicts should not be asked to return to prisons.
It added the state must at least give 45 days, not 15 as stated in the circular, to prepare for the surrender as they would otherwise face losses in whatever work they were engaged in, like harvesting for those with farms.
Abhijeet Pawar, 28, and 39 other convicts out on parole, a majority from Kolhapur central prison, pointed out that after the SC ordered the emergency release of inmates in 2020, the state issued a notification under the Furlough and Parole Rules to permit release of those convicted (except certain categories, including those for bank fraud, money laundering, organised crime, narcotics or terror offences) on emergency parole for 45 days or till withdrawal of the notification, whichever is earlier (see box). The 45 days would stand extended by blocks of 30 days as long as the notification was in force.
Now, the circular has asked all prisoners to return within 15 days after the completion of either the original 45 days or the subsequent additional 30 days. The surrender deadline is "vague", said the petition. Each inmate has been told to undergo an RTPCR test before returning to prison. With no intimation from jail officials to inmates individually, there is "panic among convicts" because of a prosecution warning.
The petitioners sought a stay on the circular as it stipulates criminal action under section 224 of the Indian Penal Code (resisting lawful custody) if prisoners fail to surrender on time. They can face up to two more years of imprisonment or fine or both.
The petition also said experts have "suggested" there could be an outbreak of a fourth Covid wave in India between mid-July and mid-September and calling inmates back "without verifying the ground reality would be non-application of mind" which would be detrimental to their right to life in case of any outbreak in prison.
