Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the central and Delhi governments and the Tihar Jail chief on a plea demanding changes in parole rules and other provisions to protect the fundamental rights of prisoners.

The public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by counsel representing Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, an accused in the second generation (2G) spectrum allocation scam and now lodged in Tihar Jail.

The division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice to all the three respondents seeking their replies by Aug 24.

Petitioner Vijay Aggarwal approached the court demanding protection of the fundamental rights of prisoners, including his client, languishing in jails across the country.

“Prison rules should protect jail inmates and give them a fair, just and, most importantly, a constitutionally compliant penal regime,” said the petition.

Demanding a change in parole rules to be changed for prisoners, Aggarwal said, if the court felt that an undertrial would abscond during the parole period then GPS tracking tags should be put on him or her.

“When a person is willing to use his own resources to acquire such a device, there is no reason not to allow him to use it to secure his precious right to personal liberty guaranteed under the constitution,” he said.

“Undertrials constitute a whooping 67 percent of the total prison population in India. There are 257,928 undertrials in India. The present system shows the injustice, discrimination and violation of constitutional rights which these undertrials suffer,” he said.

Aggarwal compared the parole process followed in Maharashtra and said: “The competent authority to grant parole in Maharashtra and other states is the divisional commissioner or inspector general (prisons). This enables a speedier process as opposed to the practice prevailing in Delhi.”