On 7th October a bench of Karnataka High Court consisting of Justice Krishna S. Dixit, while hearing a petition observed that it is a well-settled principle of criminal jurisprudence that release of a convict on parole or furlough cannot be sought as a matter of right. The court reasoned this on the ground that the society and the victims of the offence have a strong justifiable expectation that the offender should serve the full sentence and hence, releasing the life convicts on parole or furlough intermittently offends the sense of Justice and that shakes the confidence of right thinking members of the public in the administration of Criminal Justice System.
The bench added that merely on the ground that the convict is suffering from COVID-19 disease and that he needs another extension of parole for his complete recovery cannot be sustained. Following this the court stated that all adequate facilities avail in the jails and other Govt. hospitals for the diseased convicts who have been serving the sentence.
The facts of the case include that the petitioner was convicted for the offences punishable u/s 302,120B, 324, 341, 427 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code 1860. Thereafter, he was released on parole on on 19.03.2021 for a period of 30-days. Thereafter, he got extension of the parole for the same period vide order dated 05.08.2021; similarly he secured second extension too vide order dated 31.08.2021 for another spell of 30 days which came to an end on 05.10.2021.
Following the above, the petitioner again asked for extension on account of COVID related health issues in support of which he had produced some feeble material. However, such was not considered and hence the present writ petition.
The Learned AGA on the other hand opposed the present petition stating that there is absolutely no case for the Petitioner to be paroled any further. He added that the extension of parole could defeat the very purpose of having the convicts to serve the sentence.
After hearing both the parties the court found the present petition devoid of any merit and hence rejected the same accordingly.
Read Order @Latestlaws.com
Picture Source :
