Some convicts lodged in Model Jail, Burail, are on a hunger-strike for the last 15 days demanding to be released on parole. Sources said the jail inmates had applied for parole and protested when the jail authorities refused to forward their case.
"We are making all-possible efforts to break the strike but we are unable to help the convicts in this matter. We follow the orders of the higher authorities.
“The inmates can be allowed to go to their home only when the higher officials approve their parole applications," sources in the Burail jail said.
Pankaj Kajal, who was arrested in connection with a rape case of a German tourist woman in the year 2008 and was sentenced to life imprisonment, is also part of the hunger-strike.
Meenu Kajal, wife of Pankaj Kajal, said, "I had applied for the parole of my husband, under section-3 of Punjab good conduct prisoners (temporary release) Act 1961, but the jail authorities have refused parole to him".
She said, in the reply to her petition, the jail superintendent had said that three co-convicts of Pankaj were sent for parole but they did not report back to jail after the completion of their period of parole.
However, two of them were caught by the police while one person, Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi, is still absconding.
A senior official of Model Jail, requesting anonymity, said convicts are demanding parole in rape cases, while the Punjab and Haryana High court has directed the Administration not to approve the parole applications for those arrested in rape cases.