Mumbai Taking serious note of the high number of convicts failing to report back to prisons after their emergency Covid parole ended weeks ago, police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar on Wednesday directed senior officers to conduct a special drive to trace these prisoners who have gone off the radar.
In a story on Wednesday, the Hindustan Times reported how 892 convicts, who were released on Covid emergency parole, were yet to return to the prisons. This also prompted the state prison department to start registering fresh offences against these prisoners and have so far booked 86 of the absconding convicts.
“I have instructed both joint commissioners of police, who head the Law and Order wing and the crime branch, to undertake a special drive to locate these prisoners and send them back to jails,” Phansalkar said.
After the Maharashtra government revoked all restrictions imposed under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on May 1, the state home department issued an order regarding the temporary parole on May 4, directing all the convicted prisoners to return to jail. The home department also clearly directed the prison department to register cases under section 224 (resisting lawful custody) of Indian Penal Code against those who did not return.
Following this order, the prison department started reviewing the parole status of all the prisoners who availed emergency parole. As many as 3,340 prisoners returned to jail within the stipulated time and those who failed to return, the police station concerned were intimated. “Once the police also confirm that the convict has gone out of their radar, then our staff lodge FIRs against them,” another prison official said.
Of the total convicts who were given the emergency parole, five have died and some were acquitted. As per the latest information available with the prison department, 43,507 prisoners are lodged in the 46 jails across the state against the overall capacity of 24,722. The State prison department currently also has 29 active Covid cases.