Karnataka HC asks DGP to look into ‘identically worded’ reports on parole pleas

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has asked the state Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) to look into the reports on parole applications that are ‘identically worded’ and without any application of mind.

The court has also asked the police chief to provide training, if necessary, to all the concerned officers as regards Chapter XXXIV of the Karnataka Prison Manual.

“The grant of parole is a valuable right of a convict, which would also be a right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, and as such, it would be required for the concerned authorities to apply their mind in a proper manner and pass a reasoned order on a case-to-case basis, rather than reproducing the same grounds in all the reports which are submitted,” the court said while allowing the petition filed by the ailing mother of a
convict.

The petitioner Chotti Bee, a resident of Basavakalyan in Bidar district, had moved the high court seeking release of her son Saddam on parole for 90 days. Saddam was convicted in a murder case and had been in prison for eight years as of March 2024. Though the prison authorities verified the application and recommended for his release on parole, it was not acted upon in view of a police report.

The government advocate stated that Saddam’s appeal challenging his conviction and application for the suspension of sentence/bail is pending. The parole was not granted since orders in the application are yet to be passed as also on the ground of the police report.

After perusing the material, the court noted that an application seeking suspension of sentence stands on a different footing and a different ground than an application for parole. “..in the event of an application for suspension/bail is allowed, the convict/prisoner would be released during the pendency of the consideration of the appeal, whereas an application for parole is for a limited period, which is required to be considered in terms of Chapter XXXIV of the Karnataka Prison Manual,” the court said.

The court also said that it is only on account of the mechanical police report that parole has been denied. The court ordered release of Saddam on a 60-day parole, with directions to mark his attendance once a week in the jurisdictional police station throughout the parole period. The court has also reserved liberty to seek extension of parole
period.