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Anil Kumar vs. State of Haryana & Ors.

Writ Petition (Crl.) · 2023 INSC 296Decided 24 Mar 2023
Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 46 of 2022
M.R. Shah · C.T. Ravikumar

Background

The petitioner, a life-sentence convict in Haryana, had been released on emergency/interim parole during the COVID-19 pandemic pursuant to decisions of a High-Powered Committee set up under the Supreme Court's own directions in a suo motu case. He challenged the Committee's later decision (dated 09.05.2021) that his parole period would not be counted towards his total sentence, arguing this could delay his eligibility for remission.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under Section 3(3) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988, the period of temporary release on parole is statutorily excluded from the total sentence period, and this provision's constitutional validity had already been upheld in earlier precedent (Avtar Singh vs. State of Haryana). The Court also relied on its recent ruling in Rohan Dhungat vs. State of Goa, reasoning that counting parole time towards actual imprisonment would let influential prisoners repeatedly seek parole to artificially shorten their real time served, defeating the purpose of a custodial sentence. Since the High-Powered Committee's decision was consistent with the statute and binding precedent, the Court dismissed the writ petition as lacking merit.

Lesson Learnt

Time spent by a convict out on parole, even pandemic-related emergency parole ordered by the courts themselves, does not count towards the actual prison term to be served, so remission and sentence-completion calculations are based only on time actually spent in custody.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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