The Kerala High Court has directed jail authorities to consider applications filed by prisoners or their relatives for emergency leave or ordinary parole and pass appropriate orders on them within three weeks from the date of receipt of such applications.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan also directed that the prisoners and their relatives, if necessary, should be communicated the decision so taken within one week from the date of passing of such order.
The court also ordered that if any report is called for from the local police before taking a decision on emergency leave and ordinary parole applications, the local police should submit a report within one week from the date of receipt of the request from the jail authorities. The court also directed the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services to issue necessary directions to all jail authorities in this regard.
The court passed the directives recently while allowing a writ petition filed by Rama, wife of Manoj alias Irumban Manoj, of Thrissur, who is undergoing life imprisonment, seeking a directive to the jail authorities to grant him emergency leave.
The court noted that several petitions by convicts and their close relatives were coming up before the court for emergency leave or ordinary parole. The court said that if an application is submitted, the authority concerned is not even informing the prisoner or the relatives about the result of the application. If an application is filed and the same is rejected, there is a remedy to the prisoner or his relatives to approach the appellate authority. Therefore, it is the duty of the jail authorities to duly process the application for emergency leave, ordinary parole, etc. immediately. Inmates in prisons are still citizens and should not be denied their basic human rights as any other citizen.
