On Tuesday, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court directed Maharashtra government to consider extending the benefit of emergency parole to prisoners from other states in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The division bench of justice TV Nalawade and justice MG Sewlikar directed the government to take a decision in this regard in 15 days.
The directive came as a number of prisoners from outside Maharashtra who are lodged in state prisons challenged their exclusion from the benefit of emergency parole.
Their lawyers said the high-power committee (HPC), appointed by the state government after the March 2020 Supreme Court order to decongest prisons to prevent spread of Covid-19 in jails, extended the benefit of emergency parole to certain categories of prisoners. They further said that prisoners whose residences are outside Maharashtra were not included primarily in view of the fact that due to travel restrictions prevailing at that time, they could not have reached their hometowns even if released on emergency parole.
They added that since the Union ministry of home affairs has on August 22 written to chief secretaries of all states saying there are no restrictions on inter-state or intra-state movement of people or goods, the state government need to reconsider the HPC decision with regards to granting emergency parole to prisoners from other states.
The HC said that in the changed circumstances, it was desirable that state government consider the same, and directed it to take a decision in the matter.
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