Times
of India: Nagpur: Tuesday, 28 April 2015.
The escape of
five undertrials from Nagpur Central Jail on March 31 may have focused
attention on laxity and corruption in the jail, a little known fact is another
135 convicts from here are untraceable after having left the prison on furlough
or parole in the last five years.
This
indicates the shocking number of criminals going scot-free due to lackadaisical
approach of the enforcing agencies. The slack attitude remains a major concern
for different high courts but enforcing agencies like jail administration and
police are yet to wake up. Furlough is a leave of around fortnight sanctioned
by jail DIG while parole is sanctioned by the divisional commissioner.
Reply to a
query under Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that 82 convicts did not
return after being furloughed for various reasons. Another 53 convicts who were
paroled chose to stay away well after completion of parole period. The jail
administration released 1770 convicts on furlough between 2010 and 2015.
Another 1039 convicts were released on parole in the same five years' period.
While escape
of five undertrials has been taken up seriously by the state government and
authorities, the jail administration and city police continue to ignore the
convicts going missing after their leave periods. Almost no effort is made to
get these convicts back to face the rest of their sentences and also punishment
for violating the parole and furlough orders.
The Punjab
and Haryana high court in 2012 had asked the jail authorities to verify the
background of the guarantors of parole and furlough jumpers taking serious
cognizance of the large numbers of such convicts overstaying their leaves being
brought to fore by a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
A senior
officer stated that the jail administration and divisional commissioner must
pull up the guarantors of the applicants for furlough and parole instead of
leaving it to police department to trace out the overstaying convicts.
"The guarantors should be jailed or fined heavily," he said. No such
action is initiated for reasons best known to officials.
Joint
commissioner of police Anup Kumar Singh stated that the list of parole and furlough
jumpers was passed on to crime branch after being received from jail
authorities. "Efforts are being made by both police stations and crime
branch to nab the convicts. Police have nabbed several of them and sent them
back too in jail," he said.
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