HC: Past overstays cannot be reason to deny furlough | India News
Nagpur: In a ruling underscoring the rehabilitative purpose of furlough, Nagpur bench of Bombay high court quashed prison department’s refusal to grant leave to a life convict, stating that past overstays on furlough (leave of absence for a specified period to a convict from prison) cannot permanently disqualify a prisoner from exercising the right to temporary release.A division bench comprising Justices Anil Pansare and Mahendra Nerlikar was hearing a plea filed by Shankar Landge, a 38-year-old serving life imprisonment at Nagpur Central Jail, following his conviction by a Wardha court on murder charges in 2010.“The very object of the furlough is reformation and social integration and, therefore, if it is denied for years together, it would frustrate the purpose of incorporation of provisions in the rules,” the bench stated in its order last week.The judges said the jail superintendent also lost sight of the fact that since 2014, the petitioner had not been granted furlough. “Merely because he overstayed on earlier occasions, that by itself does not disqualify the petitioner from the grant of furlough leave,” the HC ruled.The petitioner’s furlough request was rejected on March 22 by DIG (Prisons), Nagpur, citing multiple instances of overstay between 2010 and 2014. Landge challenged the decision in high court. Opposing his plea, public prosecutor S Thakur informed the bench that the convict had overstayed his release by 18 days in 2010, 88 days in 2011, 265 days in 2013 and 56 days in 2014.The court, however, noted that Landge had not been granted furlough since Nov 18, 2014. His counsel argued that the past overstays – now over a decade old – should not weigh against him indefinitely. The petitioner also gave an undertaking that he would diligently perform his allotted prison duties, addressing another concern flagged by the prison authorities.Allowing the petition, the court directed Landge to be released on furlough for the period he had applied for, on terms and conditions deemed appropriate by the prison authorities.
