How many convicts in West Bengal have jumped parole?
31 Mar, 2013It has been claimed that many crimes are committed by convicts who jumped parole. Lack of adequate steps by the authorities to ensure that parolees keep in touch with the authorities is said to lead to abetment of such cases. The reply to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has shown that the details about the number of convicts in the state of West Bengal who are out on parole is not maintained by the police.
An application was filed under the under Section 6 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information from the Inspector General (IG) of the Directorate of Correctional Services. The principal question raised in the RTI application was about the number of convicts and/ or accused persons released on parole from correctional homes in West Bengal from January 1990 till 2012. The applicant also sought the details about such parolees like the names of the convicts, dates of release on parole and the dates they returned to the correctional homes. Further, the details of the convicts /inmates were granted parole more than once cases and the details for which the parolees were in the correctional homes were sought. Lastly, the applicant sought the details of the convicts/ inmates who went missing and are remain untraced.
The reply to the RTI application states that inmates (convicts) detained in different correctional homes of West Bengal are released on parole by either approval issued from Inspector General of Correctional Services, West Bengal, or orders from Ld. Court. Therefore, it is not possible to maintain records of parole in this Directorate and as such records in question are maintained at the local Correctional Home level. There are currently 57 correctional homes in West Bengal.