Parole guidelines: HC to hear jailed ex-cop's plea on Jul 30

A jailed former policeman today pleaded before the Delhi High Court to amend the parole and furlough guidelines to benefit over 3,000 convicts languishing in different jails of the national capital.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath posted the application to July 30. The plea was filed by former Assistant Commissioner of Delhi Police (ACP) Satyavir Singh Rathi, who is serving life term in the 1997 Connaught Place shooting case.
The ex-cop, in his application, stated that the convicts were facing a lot of problems and difficulties in availing parole.
"The convicts from time to time have to approach this court for seeking parole. The competent authority for grant of parole (Lt Governor) and furlough (Director General Prison) either rejects the convict's application on flimsy grounds or on the grounds contrary to the law laid down by this court and the Supreme Court," the plea said.

The petitioner's counsel Suraj Rathi also claimed that the 2010 Parole and Furlough Guidelines were "arbitrary, illegal, perverse and capricious."
"The existing/present guidelines suffer from total non- application of mind," the plea said, adding that the competent authority "adopts strictly hyper technical approach in deciding the parole and furlough applications of convicts, instead of adopting liberal approach".

The plea said that "reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of convicts into mainstream of the society are also part of the criminal justice system. This is why parole and furlough have become an integral part of criminal justice system".
He said that the object of Article 226 is to provide a quick and inexpensive remedy to aggrieved parties.

"It is pertinent to mention here that this petition needs to be decided as expeditiously as possible, since the convicts' life and liberty are in jeopardy and the purpose of parole and furlough gets defeated/frustrated," the application said.
Taking note that there was already PIL filed by the ex-cop on the issue, besides many others, the court tagged all the PILs together for July 30.