Mumbai, October 06: The Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra government to devise some mechanism for tracing the accused or convicts who do not return after getting parole (temporary release from jail) or temporary bail.
As of July this year, 15,388 convicts and accused were absconding after release on parole or bail, according to the affidavit filed by K S Subramaniam, principal secretary(home).
Action has been initiated against sureties (guarantors) in only 862 cases, the affidavit says.
Convicts are regularly released on parole, but they are supposed to return to jail after a specific period.
Division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Pramod Kode said that statistics showed that current provisions under the law were not working.
“What can you do?” the court asked the prosecution, seeking to know if jail authorities could take any new measures in this regard.
–Agencies