Subsequent to the appeal arising out of the Division Bench hearing of the Bombay High Court case of Pintu Sonale v. State of Maharashtra, the Full Bench of the same decided that convicts under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (‘POCSO’) will not be granted parole under the the Maharashtra Prisons (Mumbai Furlough and Parole (Amendment) Rules, 2020 (‘Parole Rules, 2020’). Under these rules, convicts can be granted an emergency parole (due to the COVID-19 outbreak) in pursuance of the Epidemics Diseases Act, 1897. The Bench consisting of Justices K.K. Tated, G.S. Kulkarni and N.R. Borkar referred to the intention of the Parole Rules, 2020, which was to control the spread of the Virus in prisons. The list of Acts under which convicts could not be granted bail is not exhaustive and is only illustrative. The Bench held that the intention of the Parole Rules is not to grant parole to persons convicted for serious offences, such as those under POCSO.
The Court also noted that being granted parole is not a right. It was observed that there is no right or entitlement that a jail inmate may claim to seek temporary release during the pandemic, as if it was flowing either from Part III of the Constitution or any other statute.
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