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Tag: parole

  • SC orders all prisoners released on Covid-19 parole to surrender within 15 days

    SC orders all prisoners released on Covid-19 parole to surrender within 15 days

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    New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that all prisoners, released on emergency parole by the state high-powered committees constituted on its order during the Covid pandemic, will have to surrender within 15 days.

    A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and C.T. Ravikumar said: “All those under-trials/ convicts who have been released on emergency parole/interim bail pursuant to the recommendation of the High-Powered Committee, in compliance of the orders, dated March 23, 2020, May 7, 2021 and July 16, 2021, passed by this court in suo moto writ petitiona have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities within 15 days.”

    The bench added that the present order be intimated to the accused/inmates concerned by the jail authorities that they have now to surrender within the period of 15 days.

    “However, it is observed that thereafter after the concerned prisoners/inmates surrender before the concerned prison authorities, it will be open for the concerned undertrials to pray for bail before the competent court and their applications be considered in accordance with law and on its own merits.”

    It further added that after the surrender by the concerned convicts who are released on emergency parole, it will be open for them, if so advised, to pray for suspension of sentence before the concerned court in their appeals which might have been pending, and which also may be considered in accordance with law and/or on merits.

    The bench noted that it is not in dispute and cannot be disputed that all those undertrial prisoners/convicts were released on interim bail/emergency parole taking into consideration the overcrowding in the prisons and to prevent the spread of Covid-19 virus among prisoners in overcrowded prisons.

    “All those undertrial prisoners/convicts therefore were not released on merit but were released on the aforesaid ground alone. Therefore, now when the Covid-19 situation has now been normalised, all those prisoners/inmates/undertrial prisoners/convicts who are/were released on emergency parole/interim bail have to surrender before the concerned prison authorities,” it said.

    In March 2020, the apex court took suo motu cognisance of the medical assistance needed for prisoners in overcrowded jails to save them from coronavirus, and issued notices to the Chief Secretaries, the Home Secretaries, the DGs (Prisons) and Social Welfare Secretaries of all states and Union Territories.

    During the first and second wave of the pandemic, the top court had passed several orders for grant of emergency parole to prisoners to avoid the overcrowding of prisons to contain the spread of the viral infection among them.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Lawyer daughter appears as counsel for mother, gets parole for father to attend her wedding

    Lawyer daughter appears as counsel for mother, gets parole for father to attend her wedding

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    Kochi: The Kerala High Court, after giving compassionate hearing to a petition, filed by the wife of one of Kerala’s dreaded criminals ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan and argued by his lawyer daughter, granted permission to him to attend her wedding.

    Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas gave the orders after hearing the petition of Indira whose counsel was her daughter Keerthi Jayanandan.

    Though the petitioner sought 15 days parole, the court ruled out that but took a compassionate approach when counsel said she is not asking this as a lawyer but as a daughter seeking the presence of her father for her wedding.

    Going through the points of fundamental rights and previous rulings, the judge said even though Jayanandan’s previous record is not good as he tries to escape at every given chance, taking into account the basic rights, he can attend the wedding of his daughter.

    The court then said the convict can reach his house in Thrissur on March 21 and can be there from 9 a.m till 5 p.m, after which he will have to return to the prison.

    On the day of the wedding at Thrissur, on March 22, he can be present there from 9 a.m to 5 p.m , after which he will return to the prison.

    The court also ruled that the accompanying police and security personnel should be in plain clothes and shall not interfere with the functions related to the wedding unless circumstances warrant.

    It also asked the petitioner and one of her daughters to file an affidavit before the Thrissur Sessions Court that they undertake to ensure his return to the jail as directed.

    Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas is the son of former Supreme Court judge K.T.Thomas.

    ‘Ripper’ Jayanandan, 56, who was accused in seven murder cases, was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in one case, while in another murder case, he was given a death sentence, but the High Court commuted it to life imprisonment on his appeal.

    He fled once from the Trivandrum Central Jail in June 2013, but in September 2013 he was caught and before that also, he was caught after escaping from the Kannur Jail.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Frequent parole to Gurmeet Ram Rahim may create law and order problems: Punjab govt

    Frequent parole to Gurmeet Ram Rahim may create law and order problems: Punjab govt

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    Chandigarh: The Punjab government has told the high court that granting frequent parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two disciples, may lead to law and order problems in the state.

    The Punjab government’s response to a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) petition against giving parole to the dera chief is in contrast to the Haryana government’s reply to the petition.

    Supporting parole for Ram Rahim Singh, the Haryana government had said in the Punjab and Haryana High Court that he does not fall under the definition of a hardcore prisoner and cannot be termed a serial killer. He has also been convicted in two murder cases.

    The dera chief was granted 40-day parole on January 20.

    The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had recently challenged the parole order in Punjab and Haryana High Court.

    The Punjab government has cited the “mayhem” created by supporters of the Dera chief in Haryana’s Panchkula when he was convicted in the rape case in 2017 as a reason for its stand.

    It also told the court that some sections of society may compare the frequent temporary parole to the dera chief to the cases of some people who have been in jail for a long time. Several Sikh bodies, including the SGPC, have been demanding the release of ‘Bandi Singhs’ (Sikh prisoners), which they claim are lodged in jails despite having completed their sentences.

    “In the present case, respondent number-9 (the dera chief) has been granted parole a number of times in the last year. That information has been obtained from concerned quarters as per which the temporary release of respondent number 9 from custody is likely to create disturbance in the law and order situation in the state of Punjab,” Punjab ADGP (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla said in an affidavit filed in the court.

    According to the Punjab government, granting frequent parole to Ram Rahim Singh has led to resentment in a particular religious community and has created a “festive and celebratory atmosphere” among the dera followers, which is highly resented by some sections of the society.

    “That there is an apprehension of disturbance to law and order situation in the state of Punjab as persons opposed to the respondent no 9 may hold protests in the state of Punjab which may extend to activities like burning effigies/traffic jams/dharnas to express displeasure against the temporary release of respondent no -9,” the Punjab government told the court.

    In 2021, the dera chief, along with four others, was also convicted for hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a dera manager. The dera chief and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Out on parole, Dera chief Ram Rahim cuts cake with sword; video goes viral

    Out on parole, Dera chief Ram Rahim cuts cake with sword; video goes viral

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    New Delhi: Currently out on parole, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was seen “celebrating” by cutting a cake with a sword.

    The Sirsa-Dera chief who is serving a 20-year jail term for rape and murder, walked out on a 40 day parole from the Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district on Saturday and arrived at his Barnawa Ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat.

    A video of the celebration by Ram Rahim with the giant cake has gone viral on social media.

    In his bail application, Ram Rahim had said that he wants to attend an event to mark the birth anniversary of former dera chief Shah Satnam Singh on January 25.

    In the purported video that has surfaced on social media, the Dera chief can be heard saying, “Got a chance after five years to celebrate like this so I should cut at least five cakes. This is the first cake.”

    Incidentally, public display of weapons i.e cutting a cake with a sword is prohibited under the Arms Act.

    Ram Rahim had on Monday virtually inaugurated a mega cleanliness campaign organized by his sect’s volunteers across multiple locations in Haryana and in some other states. A few senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Haryana, including Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar and former minister Krishan Kumar Bedi, also participated in the event.

    This is the fourth time in the last 14 months and the second time in less than three months that Ram Rahim has been granted parole. Earlier, he was released on parole for 40 days in October 2022 ahead of the Haryana panchayat election and the Adampur Assembly bypoll.

    He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers. CBI had registered the case on the orders passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2003 and taken over the investigation of the case earlier registered at Police Station Sadar in Kurukshetra.

    It was alleged that Ranjit Singh, a resident of village Khanpur Kolian, Kurukshetra was murdered on July 10, 2002, when he was working in his fields at village Khanpur Kolian of District Kurukshetra in Haryana.

    After a thorough investigation, CBI filed a charge sheet in 2007 against six accused and charges were framed in 2008 while, on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with former Dera manager Ranjit Singh’s murder case.



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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )