On March 17, the Supreme Court will hear a request from a prisoner asking that parole granted during the COVID-19 outbreak be taken into account when determining their real sentence. 

The application was brought up while the Court was deliberating on a number of cases involving the release of inmates as a result of jail overcrowding during the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2021, the Court issued a number of directives. 

Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar's bench initially questioned the applicant's advocate,

“How does our order in the COVID-19 matter come in way of that (applicant’s prayer)?”

The counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the COVID-19 parole period should be included as part of the sentence since he hadn’t requested for it.

“This was not regular parole. It was involuntary, I did not ask for it. There was huge overcrowding in the prisons. (If not for the parole), it would have added to the number of deaths in prisons during COVID”.

Considering 14 years in jail for premature release, the Supreme Court ruled in January that the Parole term must be deducted from the Goa Prison Regulations, 2006 period of punishment. 

The Advocate made it clear that this wasn't your typical parole. The Bench stated that it does not really matter. 

The Bench then provided an example to illustrate.

“If you are on covid parole for 2 years and the sentence is for 10 years. So, you will undergo a sentence only 8 years?”, the Court asked, to which the advocate replied that he had already undergone 14 years of actual imprisonment and that the insistence was based on a matter of principle.

“That's not the issue here. We will consider the question of principle later, not in this case”, stated the Bench. 

The State's attorney advised the court that the applicant's prayer was prohibited by law. 

The Court had decided to explore the issue of whether or not a convict's Covid Leave period of parole can be taken into account when determining the length of their actual sentence in 2021.

Case Title: In Re: Contagion of Covid-19 Virus in Prisons SMW(C) No. 1/2020 PIL | Anil Kumar vs State of Haryana 
Diary No. 32275/2021