CM Fadnavis orders no parole for convicts in sexual assault cases

During a meeting of the state cabinet, the chief minister directed the law and judiciary department to make necessary changes in rules and amend the law if needed to deny parole/ furlough to convicts in sexual assault cases, officials familiar with the matter told Hindustan Times

Mumbai: Against the backdrop of the recent rape and murder of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl in Nasrapur, Pune district by a 65-year-old man booked earlier for molestation, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday directed that no parole/ furlough be given to convicts in sexual assault cases.

CM Devendra Fadnavis (Hindustan Times)

During a meeting of the state cabinet, the chief minister directed the law and judiciary department to make necessary changes in rules and amend the law if needed to deny parole/ furlough to convicts in sexual assault cases, officials familiar with the matter told Hindustan Times.

“It has been observed that in 80-90% of sexual assault cases, the accused are repeat offenders who had previously been convicted in similar cases but were out of jail on parole. Taking this into account, the chief minister has directed the law and judiciary department to introduce necessary changes, either in the law or in prison rules,” a senior official said.

The move is expected to work as a deterrent as criminals will not be able to come out of jail and repeat heinous crimes, the official added.

In 2016, when Fadnavis was chief minister, amendments were made in the Maharashtra Prisons (Furlough and Parole) (Amendment) Rules, 2016, denying regular parole to convicts sentenced for serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping for ransom, sexual offences and trafficking of minor children. The decision was then taken after murder accused Sajjad Moghul, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment and was serving time in Nashik jail, jumped parole and absconded. The amendment to the prison rules was later struck down by the Bombay High Court.

“This is why the chief minister has directed the law and judiciary department to draft a fresh amendment to the rules or bring in new legislation,” the official quoted earlier said.

In the Nasrapur case, on May 1, a 65-year-old man allegedly lured a three-and-a-half-year-old girl into a cattle shed on the pretext of showing her a calf, and sexually assaulted and killed her. He smashed her face with a stone and to conceal the evidence, hid the body under a heap of dung. The man had been booked in 1998 and 2015 for molestation, and he was acquitted in another case in 2019. The incident sparked outrage across the state, and the victim’s family and villagers staged a protest, demanding capital punishment for the accused.