While granting parole to a convict for performing last rites (tehrvi) of his deceased brother, the Delhi High Court has took note of the delay at the hands of the authorities in complying with the orders on parole. The High Court has asked the Principal Secretary to address the matter at the administrative level, identify the bottlenecks and to put in place Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

The High Court was considering a matter where the authorities had not complied with the directions to consider the parole application of the petitioner.

The Single Bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani held, “The court has impressed upon the Principal Secretary (Home) the need for scrupulous and timely compliance of court orders and directions. The Principal Secretary is directed to address the matter at the administrative level; identify the bottlenecks and causes for delay; and to put in place Standard Operating Procedures (‘SOP’) to ensure that court orders are brought to the notice of the concerned authorities in a timely manner, and that court directions (including the timelines for compliance) are duly adhered-to.”

The Jail Superintendent had explained that the delay had been occasioned by reason of the internal administrative steps and procedures, since a matter for grant of parole and similar relief, has to be processed both at the end of the jail authorities and the Home Department of the Government of NCT of Delhi. The Court had expressed to the Principal Secretary (Home) its anguish as to the repeated noncompliance of the timelines with respect to directions issued by the court, especially in relation to urgent applications for grant of parole and furlough.

Coming to the facts of the case, the Bench noted that vide an order the Jail Authorities had rejected the petitioner’s prayer for parole on the ground that he was not entitled to parole in view of Rule 1212 (2) of the Delhi Prison Rules 2018. According to this rule, simultaneous parole is ordinarily not permissible to a co-convict when another co-convict is already out on parole. The Court was informed that the co-convict Akash @ Bhole had surrendered back to custody.

The Bench referred to the Status report filed by the State confirming the factum of the death of the petitioner’s elder brother and granted the petitioner parole for four weeks.

Cause Title: Nandu @ Ram Kishore v. State (Nct of Delhi) (Case No.: W.P.(CRL) 618/2026)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocate Anmol Kumar Pandey

Respondent: ASC Amol Sinha, SI Ramakant

Click here to read/download Order






Delhi High CourtJustice Anup Jairam Bhambani

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.