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HC deprecates role of DC, SP Sonepat for not allowing man parole for daughter’s marriage
The Punjab and Haryana high court has deprecated role of deputy commissioner (DC) and superintendent of police (SP) Sonepat for not allowing parole to a convict for his daughter’s marriage
The Punjab and Haryana high court has deprecated role of deputy commissioner (DC) and superintendent of police (SP) Sonepat for not allowing parole to a convict for his daughter’s marriage.
The court observed that the DC had passed the order in a “casual and mechanical manner” by placing reliance on a report that was “bereft of any merit and devoid of any substance”.
“Such casual conduct on the part of the highly placed officers of the district administration such as the superintendent of police and district collector deserves to be deprecated. More so, when such orders relate to lives and liberties of individuals,” the bench of justice Vinod S Bhardwaj observed.
The plea was from a convict of attempt to murder and voluntary causing hurt case of 1998. He was serving a sentence of seven years and had sought parole of eight weeks to get his house repaired and further attend the marriage of his daughter, later this month. Through an order of April 20, the DC had dismissed the application.
The court took note of report of the executive engineer, PWD (B&R) Sonepat that the house in question has not been repaired since long. The walls of the house are condemned and water drips during the rainy season.
The house needed an urgent repair, the report said. Tehsildar, Gohana had specifically reiterated about the marriage of his daughter and had also stated that he has his wife, aged 47 years, son, aged 22 years, and father, aged 86 years.
It came before the court that the DC rejected the parole application based on a report sent by SP, Sonepat, who had expressed the possibility of danger to “the security and public order of the state”.
“The report or apprehension expressed by the SP, Sonepat is seemingly mechanical and is not based on any cogent material. It has not been disclosed as to how the security of the State would be endangered on account of the parole being extended to the petitioner,” the court observed, adding that in the absence of any corroborating material and any cogent evidence to substantiate such report, it is evident that the DC had passed the order in a “casual and mechanical manner”.
The court has now set aside the DC order and allowed four-week parole to attend the convict his daughter’s marriage and make preparations for the same.
