India News | Extending Parole to Convicts by 8 Weeks as COVID-19 Threat Persists, AAP Govt Tells HC

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) The AAP government informed the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it has decided to extend by eight weeks the emergency parole granted to convicts before April 30 to decongest prisons as the "threat of COVID-19 still persists".

The submission was made before a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad during the hearing of a plea urging the court to further extend by 45 days the parole granted to convicts in the wake of COVID-19.

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Delhi government additional standing counsel Anuj Aggarwal told the bench that the home department decided on May 20 to extend by eight weeks the parole of convicts who were granted the relief prior on or before April 30.

In view of the submission made by the Delhi government, the applicant decided not to press the plea and the application was disposed of by the court.

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The application was filed by a lawyer who said that while the high court on May 9 extended by 45 days the bail granted to prisoners, no such relief was granted to convicts out on parole.

The application was filed in a disposed of petition which was moved in March seeking decongesting of the prisons in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)