Murder Convicts Get COVID Parole Thrice: Allahabad High Court Seeks Reply Of UP Govt, Orders Enquiry

Questioning the move of the Uttar Pradesh Government to release 4 Murder convicts on COVID Parole, the Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the Chief Secretary of State's Government to enquire into the matter as to under what circumstances the convict/appellants were released on parole thrice.

The Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Vivek Varma has also sought a report as to how many such convicted persons for death and life imprisonment by the trial Court and other convicts, who were in jail for the offences involving punishment for more than seven years, have been released in the State of U.P.

Essentially, the Court was dealing with a matter of 4 Murder Convicts, sentenced to capital punishment by the Trial Court in 1999 and presently their appeals are pending before the High Court. They were released on COVID Parole thrice by the State Government on the basis of the order of the Apex Court dated March 23, 2020.

Importantly, as per the Apex Court's March 2020 order, states were directed to form a High-Powered Committees (HPC) to decongest jails by releasing the inmates and UP Government formed committee had decided to grant parole to those prisoners who are facing up to 7 years of jail.

Read more about the Supreme Court's order here: COVID-19 : SC Directs States/UTs To Consider Granting Parole To Prisoners In Lesser Offences To De-Congest Prisons [Read Order]

Against this backdrop, while dealing with the capital sentence appeal, the Court was told that the four appellants, namely, Krishna Murari, Raghav Ram, Kashi Ram, and Ram Milan were released on parole thrice in compliance with the aforesaid order of the Apex Court, in May 2021, August 2021 and December 2021, each time for a period of sixty days.

Importantly, the 4 murder convicts were awarded capital punishment in 1999 by the Trial Court and they were acquitted by the high court a year later. However, in 2008, the Supreme Court set aside the acquittal order and asked the High Court to hear the case afresh, and thereafter, a non-bailable warrant was issued by the High Court and the convicts were taken into custody.

Since then, they had been custody but the State Government passed orders thrice, as referred to above, releasing them on parole in compliance with the aforesaid order of the Apex Court dated 23.03.2020.

On a query being raised from the Additional Government Advocate as to under what circumstances, appellants were released on parole thrice, he could not give any satisfactory answer and he said that the order of release on parole could not have been passed in the facts of the present case.

In view of this, the Court observed thus:

"...it is a matter of great concern and serious one as the release of the convict/appellants on parole by the State taking the aid of the order of the Apex Court...We record our displeasure the manner in which the State has repeatedly acted in releasing the convict /appellants on parole thrice and no authority of the State was vigilant enough to check this gross failure by misusing the order of the Apex Court dated 23.03.2020."

In view of aforesaid, the Counsel for the convict/appellants were directed to inform the convict/ appellants to surrender themselves before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faizabad forthwith, failing which, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faizabad has been directed to take convict/appellants in custody.

The matter has now been listed for the next hearing on December 12, 2021.

Click Here To Read/Download Order