New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) The Delhi government Wednesday submitted a new set of parole guidelines before the Delhi High Court and assured it that the measures would be strictly implemented.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam submitted the new set of guidelines to the division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar.

According to these measures, convicts whose presence is considered to be dangerous and would disturb public peace would not be allowed to take the benefits of parole alongwith those involved in violent crimes like assault, riot etc.

“Prisoner convicted of an offence involving sedition, cruelty, personal greed, serious or premeditated violence, offences related to TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities), firearms and other dangerous weapons will not be granted parole,” the guidelines say.

But the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) objected to this, saying that if these are the criteria for parole, no prisoner will ever get one.

Agreeing to the DLSA’s objection, the bench asked the government counsel to amend the guidelines and submit these by Thursday.

“This is not the correct criteria. If these guidelines were adopted, no prisoner will ever get parole,” the bench said.

The high court earlier pulled up the government for adopting a discriminatory attitude towards some convicts, allowing them parole easily and quickly while applications of others were kept pending for months. The court cited the case of Manu Sharma, a convict in the Jessica Lal murder case who was granted parole within 20 days of his application.

The government’s affidavit said that of the 372 parole applications received between Jan 1 and Nov 18 this year, 72 were accepted, 98 pleas were pending and the remaining were rejected.