The Supreme Court has dismissed an application which was filed by a convict for consideration the parole granted during the COVID-19 pandemic to be counted as part of his actual sentence since the same was involuntary.
In a recent decision,the Bench comprising of Justice MR Shah, Justice CT Ravikumar, and Justice Sanjay Karol had said that the Court had held that for the purpose of considering actual imprisonment, this period of parole is to be excluded.
The bench said that the petitioner convicted under 302 (punishment for murder)will have to undergo the period as mentioned and the period of emergency parole has to be excluded from sentence and thus no relief from this Court.
The argument put by the respondents was that a statutory bar exists as to the prayer in question.
In January a Bench by Justice Shah had upheld a Bombay High Court order that said periods of parole availed by a prisoner cannot be counted as part of the duration of sentence while considering the minimum imprisonment of 14 years required for premature release from prison under the 2006 Goa Prison Rules.
The Court also made it clear that order under Section 55 of the 1984 Prisons Act, release on parole is not counted while computing the sentence period.