Prisoners released during pandemic in UP, asked to return to jail

Lucknow, Dec 1 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided not to further extend the parole of convicted prisoners.

An order has been issued to the prison department to ensure that all convicts return to jail.

It may be recalled that in May this year, the state government had released 2,256 convicts on the directives of the Supreme Court.

The move was made to decongest jails in view of Covid-19 pandemic. These convicts were serving sentences of less than seven years.

The state Prisons department has said out of the 2,256 inmates, four have died, 136 were released as their jail term had completed and 56 others were jailed in other cases, leaving 2,063 convicts only.

Director General, Prisons, Anand Kumar said, "We got 693 convicts back in jails while others are still to return. A notification for them has been sent to the respective district jails and SPs."

Meanwhile, eight of the 15 prisoners, who had been released on parole from Pilibhit district jail on April 29, following the state government's orders, have gone missing and did not return to jail.

The Superintendent of Police (SP), following a letter sent by the officiating jail superintendent, has now issued orders to all SHOs to trace these prisoners and make them surrender before jail authorities.

Since the prisoners were released, the parole period -- eight weeks -- had been extended thrice.

Finally, November 23 was set as the deadline for their return and letters duly issued to them informing them, but of the 15 prisoners sentenced to a maximum jail term of seven years, only seven returned to jail, said officiating jail Superintendent Vivek Sheel Tripathi.

Source: IANS