Aatmja Kumari(Intern Journalist): A three-member full bench of the Bombay High Court in a historic judgment on Friday refused to release the convicted (convicted or punished) convict under Pocso law on emergency parole. The bench said in its judgment that a person declared guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Harassment (Pocso Act) cannot be granted emergency parole on the basis of a Supreme Court order. The Supreme Court ordered the reduction of the number of detainees in jails due to Covid-19.
A full bench of Justice KK Tateed, Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice NR Borkar was hearing an inmate’s plea, which is currently serving a 10-year sentence in a metropolitan jail after being convicted under the Pocso Act. The petition was referred by the Bombay High Court bench to the full bench on behalf of the advocate Rupesh Jaiswal, the counsel for the petitioner, on the issue of two divergent decisions on the issue. These decisions were given in two separate cases by the Nagpur and Aurangabad benches of the Bombay High Court. However, the POCSO Act is not specifically included in Rule-19 of the Maharashtra Prison Manual, the bench said. But this 2012 law comes under special laws and serious offenses, which are outside the purview of emergency parole based on Covid-19 proliferation. The bench gave this clarification, citing a notification issued by the state home department, through which amendment of Rule-19 of Maharashtra Prison (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959 for grant of parole and furlough to some criminals due to pandemic. it was done.
As per the 1959 Rules, the provisions of Rule-19 prohibit the release of offenders on parole or furlough who are subject to serious economic offenses or bank scams or special laws like IPC applicable to MCOCA, NDPS, UAPA, PMLA Have been declared guilty of the crime.
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