A court in Punjab has recently ordered a separate room in the jail premises for prisoners to spend time privacy with their spouses to increase their lineage. Not to lag behind Punjab, Rajasthan High Court has granted 15-day parole to a prisoner to stay with his wife and have his progeny.
What’s intriguing about the move is that the high court overlooked the fact that the inmate is serving 20 years of imprisonment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. Under the POCSO Act a convict of rape or gangrape is generally not granted parole or sent to open jail.
Brijesh Devi, the wife of the rapist, Rahul Baghel who hails from Alwar first filed a writ petition with the district magistrate before approaching the high court for the release of her husband on an emergent parole on the ground of progeny and conceiving the child progeny for the purpose of preservation of lineage.
A double bench of the high court of justices Sandeep Mehta and Sameer Jain admitted the petition under the Rule 11 (1) (iii) of the Rajasthan Prisoners Release on Parole on the ground of want of progeny and issued the order recently, the petitioner’s lawyer Vishram Prajapati told SNS.
The wife had sought a parole for 30 days, the court, however, granted him 15 days under various conditions to be followed by the convict under the supervision of the Alwar district and police administration, the lawyer said.
“It was submitted that the petitioner (convict) has served more than two years of imprisonment with remission. The petition has been filed through petitioner’s wife for releasing him on emergent parole, for want of progeny and conceiving child for the purpose of preservation of lineage, as per religious and cultural philosophies and for humanitarian aspects. The conduct of the petitioner is satisfactory and if not allowed to be released on parole, his rights under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, will be affected,” the order stated.
The convict, Rahul, was jailed for 20 years by the Alwar POCSO court on 13 June 2020 and he is in jail since October 30, 2020 for raping a 16 year old girl at Hanipur (Alwar district) in 2019. After paper formalities, Rahul was released on parole yesterday, the lawyer said.