ANANYA BORGOHAIN sketches a basic guide to the operations of two fundamental rights of a prisoner within the Indian criminal justice system — parole and furlough
In the last few weeks, debates and discussions on furlough and parole have flooded social media. While actor Sanjay Dutt’s plea for an extension of his furlough was rejected, Italian Marine Massimiliano latorre, accused of killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast, was granted a three-month extension to stay back in Italy after a heart surgery. But apart from these two high-profile cases, there are a plenty of prisoners in Indian jails who struggle with the perils of attaining a furlough or parole. Here is a basic guide to get familiarised with the privileges and obligations that come attached with them.
Furlough
Generally, furlough is granted to prisoners who are serving sentences that are for more than five years. If it is less than five years, a furlough cannot be applied until and unless there is an emergency. A convict, under these circumstances, can apply for a 14-day furlough once a year and the same can be extended for another 14 days under special conditions. Jail authorities and the State Government concerned take a call on whether or not to grant furlough to a convict.
Parole
Parole is granted to a prisoner in case of an unavoidable emergency. Prisoners can avail 30 days of parole each year, which could be extended by another 60 days. However, that is considered to be rare. Reportedly, a prisoner, a well-behaved one at that, could stay out of jail for a maximum of 118 days each year.
Process
There is a thorough process of verification before such privileges are granted. A single error could either delay the parole or have it blocked altogether. For instance, prisoners would need a guarantor to stand surety for them; who will vouch that the prisoner would return on the stipulated date. This person will also have to pay a certain amount of money to the authorities concerned. This money will not be refunded if the prisoner fails to return to jail on the designated date.
Also, it is generally preferred if someone outside of a prisoner’s family stands surety. If family members are willing to stand surety, they need to furnish official documents such as the ration card, proof of residence and other properties, and similar identity proofs; otherwise they are not eligible for it. Many convicts are said to have not got parole because no one is willing to stand surety for them. However, in the case of death parole, a prisoner under the death penalty is allowed to attend the last rites of a relative without having to pay the surety amount.
Hurdles
The surety amount was raised to thousands of rupees, depending upon the type of crime. This increases the plight of prisoners from poor backgrounds. Earlier, the amount was Rs100. Many prisoners, consequently, couldn’t afford the amount.
Also, lack of awareness of prison rights hinder some convicts’ chance at reprieve. Affording lawyers too are a distant dream for many of them. As mentioned earlier, a disciplined convict is eligible to attain privileges like parole and furlough but the same could not be argued in favour of some other criminal offences. For instance, the Bombay High Court had in 2013 refused furlough to a man convicted of the Pune kidnapping and gangrape, saying such people should not claim to mingle with society.
The Maharashtra State Home Department’s amendment on February 23, 2012, of The Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules stated that prisoners, who could prove to be detrimental to society should not be released on furlough. The rule specifies that those who have been convicted for offences of dacoity, terrorism, kidnapping, smuggling, including those convicted under NDPS Act (61 of 1985), and foreigner prisoners would not be entitled to furlough as a matter of right.
Septuagenarian Zaibunissa Kazi was one of the main accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts and was convicted under the TADA Act. She had surrendered before a TADA court in May 2013. She was allegedly hoarding illegal AK-56 rifles, bullets and hand grenades in her house brought by Abu Salem and Syed Manzoor Ahmed and were used in the blasts. In October 2013, the court rejected her daughter’s plea for parole. Ironically, she too was facing the term of imprisonment as Sanjay Dutt and for the same offence. Worse, she is suffering from kidney failure. In fact, In March 2013, Press Council of India chairman, Justice Markandey Katju, had written a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, the then PM Manmohan Singh and then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde seeking pardon for Kazi. Katju had cited that Kazi was a 75-year-old widow, who was suffering from kidney troubles and that she had already served nine months in prison. Kazi had to approach the High Court after her parole plea was rejected.
Historically parole is a military concept that denotes the release of a prisoner of war on the promise to return. Parole has become an integral part of the English and American systems of criminal justice today. Release on parole is considered to be a step to reformation of the convict, besides being his/her jail right. However, there have been several instances when a convict has vanished during a parole period.
Parole cheaters
Siddharth Vashist aka Manu Sharma, the convict in the Jessica lal murder case, was granted parole on September 24, 2009, for one month, which was later extended on three grounds — to attend religious rites of his late grandmother, to tend to his mother, and to look after the family business. But he was soon seeing drinking and partying in a Delhi pub with his friends, following which he had to return to jail on November 10, 2009.
Bibi Jagir Kaur was jailed for her role in her daughter’s kidnapping and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2012. She was let off on bail just after four months of her imprisonment. It was reported that preferential treatment had been extended to her as she was the former Cabinet Minister of Punjab. She is the first woman to be elected for the second time as the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, an organisation that manages historical Sikh shrines and some educational institutions in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
On the other hand, there is also the Bitti Mohanty case. Mohanty, the son of DGP Orissa, was sentenced for the rape of a German national. He was sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment along with a fine. In November 2006, he was granted 15 days’ parole to visit his ailing mother. His father had stood surety for him. But Bitti managed to escape and vanished. His father claimed to have no knowledge of his disappearance. Following a tip-off seven years later, the police nabbed him in Kerala in March 2013. By then, he had changed his identity and declined to acknowledge himself as Bitti Mohanty.
The parole and furlough systems are defined by The Prisons Act of 1894 under Sections 5(A) and 5(B). Unfortunately, both the general public and prisoners have limited knowledge of the same. Parole and furlough are fundamental rights of prisoners, and the authorities concerned should raise more awareness about them.
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