The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had rejected a plea moved by some prisoners who were aggrieved by the State government turning down their applications for premature release.
The verdict of the High Court was based on an interpretation of Rule 335 of the Goa Prison Rules and Section 55 of the 1984 Prisons Act.
On appeal before the top court, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave for the petitioners argued that even when on parole, convicts can be said to be in custody/ judicial custody and thus, the parole period should be included while considering the minimum of 14 years of actual imprisonment when considering plea for premature release.
An accused when away from any prison in which he may be lawfully confined, shall be deemed to be in prison as per Section 55 of the Prisons Act, the counsel added.
The top court, however, said that parole is conditional release.
“Parole can be granted in case of short-term imprisonment. Duration of parole extends to one month. Parole is granted by the State Government. For parole, specific reason is required. Parole can be granted for number of times … The term of imprisonment is not included in the computation of term of parole.“
Further, Section 55 of the Act only applies when a person has been taken away from prison, the Court added.
The appeals were, therefore, dismissed.
Source: Barandbench
