Historically „parole‟ is a concept known to military law and denotes release of a prisoner of

war on promise to return. Parole has become an integral part of the English and American
systems of criminal justice intertwined with the evolution of changing attitudes of the society
towards crime and criminals. In those Countries, parole is taken as an act of grace and not as
a matter of right and the convict prisoner may be released on condition that he abides by the
promise. It is a provisional release from confinement but is deemed to be a part of the
imprisonment. Release on parole is a wing of the reformative process and is expected to
provide opportunity status of the prisoner. Parole system means the system of releasing
prisoners in jail on parole, by suspension of their sentences in accordance with the rules for
the time being in force. Regular Parole is allowed for a maximum period of one month,
except in special circumstances, to convicts who have served at least one year in prison.
Parole is granted on certain grounds such as:-  Serious Illness of a family member 
Accident or Death of a family member  Marriage of a member of the family  Delivery of
Child by wife of the convict  Serious damage to life or property of the family of convict by
natural calamities. Certain categories of convicts or prisoners are not eligible for being
released on parole. Prisoners involved in offences against the State, or threats to National
Security, Terrorism, Non-Citizens of India etc. People convicted of murder and rape of
children or multiple murders etc. are also exempted except at the discretion of the granting
authority [1]. If an application is made by the prisoner for granting parole is not released on
parole, then the prisoner or convict can file a writ petition through a Lawyer or an Advocate
in the Hon‟ble High Court seeking relief of parole. In some cases High Courts have granted
parole to convicts seeking distance education or correspondence study to appear for exams
and also if the prisoner wants to get married or register his marriage during the period of
undergoing conviction. Undoubtedly, parole and furlough are parts of the penal and prison
system for humanising prison administration but the two have different purposes. Furlough is
a matter of right but parole is not. Furlough is to be granted to the prisoner periodically
irrespective of any particular reason merely to enable him to retain family and social ties and
avoid ill-effects of continuous prison life. The period of furlough is treated as remission of
sentence. Parole, on the other hand, is not a matter of right and may be denied to a prisoner
even when he makes out sufficient case for release on parole if the competent authority is
satisfied on valid grounds that release of a prisoner on parole would be against the interest of
society or the prison administration. It is treated as a period spent in prison. But as against
this, the period spent on parole is not counted as remission of sentence. Since the furlough is
granted for no particular reason, it can be denied in the interest of society, whereas parole is
to be granted only on sufficient cause being shown. Thus, it could not be contended that a
prisoner released on parole and surrendering later, is disqualified for furlough. His
application for release on furlough has to be considered on merits and cannot be rejected at
the threshold. Referring to the provisions of Section 59 of the Prisons Act (9 of 1894) and
Rules 4 and 6 of the Prison (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959, the Supreme Court
once again brought out the distinction between furlough and parole in State of Maharashtra
and another v. Suresh Pandurang Darvekar [2]. The Court in this case held that underlying
object of the rules relating to „parole‟ and „furlough‟ are mentioned in the All India Jail
Committee‟s Report and the Model Prison Manual. These two have two different purposes. It
is not necessary to state reasons INTRODUCTION Historically „parole‟ is a concept known
to Military Law and denotes release of a prisoner of War on promise to return. Parole has
become an integral part of the English and American systems of Criminal Justice intertwined
with the evolution of changing attitudes of the Society towards Crime and Criminals. In those
Countries, parole is taken as an act of grace and not as a matter of right and the convict
prisoner may be released on condition that he abides by the promise. It is a provisional
release from confinement but is deemed to be a part of the imprisonment. Release on parole
is a wing of the reformative process and is expected to provide opportunity status of the
prisoner. There are many devices adopted by the prison administration to ease tension in the
prison. One of the most important devices for reducing pressure on prison is the selective
release of prisoners on parole. It is a treatment programme. It seeks to protect society and
assist the prisoner in readjusting himself to a normal free life in the community. The offender
after serving part of a term in a correctional institution is conditionally released under
supervision and treatment. It does not waste the sentence imposed, but merely suspends the
execution of the penalty and temporarily release the convict from prison. A Parole in
Criminal Law is the release of a convict from imprisonment upon certain conditions to be
observed by him. It is a release from prison after part of the sentence has been served, the
prisoner still remaining in custody and under stated conditions until discharged and liable to
return to the institution for violation of any of these conditions. Parole may be described as a
method of selectively and conditionally releasing offenders from goal before the expiration of
their sentences for the purpose of assisting and controlling them during the period of
transition from the prison environment to the community [3]. Professor Gillin has defined
parole as the release from a penal or reformatory institution of an offender who remains
under the control of correctional authorities, in an attempt to find out 3 David Biles (Ed.),
“Crime and Justice in Australia”, (1977), p.l26. See also J.E. Hall Williams, “The English
Penal System in Transition”, (1970), pp. l84- 200. whether he is fit to live in the free society
without supervision. The layman and most courts look upon parole as a gift to the convict, an
act of leniency on the part of the executive, frequently given as a reward for good behaviour
in Prison. Strictly speaking parole is a privilege and no prisoner is entitled to it as a rna tter of
right [4] The significance of parole lies in the fact that it enables the prisoner a free social
life, yet r etaining some effective control over him. Every prisoner is kept under careful
exarninat ion and one who reacts favourably to the disciplined life of the institution and
shows potentiality for correction in his attitudes is allowed considerable latitude and finally
released to join free society conditionally at specified periods [4]. Thus parole is essentially
an individualised method of treatment and envisages a final stage of adjustment of the
incarcerated prisoner to the community. It is difficult to define parole in terms of a single
precise concept. It is an integral part of the total correctional process. In a sense parole is a
method of selectively releasing offenders from institutions, under supervision in the
community, whereby the community is afforded continuing protection while the offender is
making his adjustment and beginning his contribution to society [5]. In India, there are no
statutory provisions dealing with the question of grant of parole. The Code of Criminal
Procedure does not contain any provision for grant of parole. By administrative instructions,
however, rules have been framed in various States, regulating the grant of parole. In our
Country, the action for grant of parole is generally speaking, an administrative action.
According to section 2(p) of the Delhi Prisons Act, 2000 „Parole system‟ means the system
of releasing prisoners from prison on parole by suspension of their sentences in accordance
with the rules. Since the term „Parole‟ has not been defined by the legislature anywhere, its
meaning can be understood and extracted from the interpretation given in various
dictionaries. According to the Law Lexicon, „A parole‟, is a form of conditional pardon, by
which the convict is 4 Charles L. Newrnan, “Source Book on Parole and Pardons”, (1970),
p.73. 5 N.V.Paranjape, “Criminology and Administration of Criminal Justice”, (1970), p.177.
K. Sangeetha; Law Crime Justice, Sep 2019; 2(9): 263-270 © 2019 |Published by Scholars
Middle East Publishers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 265 released before the expiration of
his term, to remain subject during the remainder thereof, to supervision by the public
authority and to return to imprisonment on violation of the condition of the parole. According
to Words and Phrases, „Parole‟ ameliorates punishment by permitting convict to serve
sentence outside of prison walls, but parole does not interrupt sentence. Parole has been
defined in Black‟s Law Dictionary, as „release from jail, prison or other confinement after
actually serving part of the sentence‟. Further Sunil Fulchand Shah‟s case [6] the Apex Court
describes “parole” as a form of “temporary release” from custody, which does not suspend
the sentence or the period of detention, but provides conditional release from custody and
changes the mode of undergoing the sentence. HISTORY OF PAROLE The history of parole
has been discussed at length by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court in Poonam Lata‟s case where it
is mentioned that “Historically „parole‟ is a concept known to military law and denotes
release of a prisoner of war on promise to return. As a consequence of the introduction of
parole into the penal system, all fixed-term sentences of imprisonment of above 18 months
are subject to release on licence, that is, parole after a one third of the period of sentence has
been served. In those Countries, parole is taken as an act of grace and not as a matter of right
and the convict prisoner may be released on condition that he abides by the promise. It is a
provisional release from confinement but is deemed to be a part of the imprisonment. Release
on parole is a wing of the reformative process and is expected to provide opportunity to the
prisoner to transform himself into a useful citizen. Parole is thus a grant of partial liberty or
lessening of restrictions to a convict prisoner, but release on parole does not change the status
of the prisoner. Rules are framed providing supervision by parole authorities of the convicts
released on parole and in case of failure to perform the promise, the convict released on
parole is directed to surrender to custody.” OBJECTIVE OF PAROLE In the absence of any
specific provision in the Code of Criminal procedure regarding parole; judgments of the
Hon‟ble Supreme Court, various High Courts as well as the rules framed in various States,
regulating the grant of parole has led to the development of parole system in India. Parole has
now become an integral part of Criminal Justice System in India. 6 (2000) 3 SCC 409. The
Division Bench of the Hon‟ble High Court of Delhi in Shakuntala Devi v. State [7] has
emphasized that under our Constitution, deprivation of personal liberty as penal policy is
purposive because the imprisonment of the criminal is sanctioned as a measure of social
defence and individual rehabilitation. The focus of interest in penology is the individual and
the goal is salvaging him for Society. Time to time the Apex Court has held that all aspects of
Criminal justice fall under the umbrella of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. Further
the Apex Court has sought to humanize prison administration to some extent through its
various pronouncements and it has also laid great emphasis on the right of a prisoner to the
integrity of his physical person and mental personality. The Apex Court views sentencing as
a process of reshaping a person who has deteriorated into criminality and the modern
community has a primary stake in the rehabilitation of the offender as a measure of social
defence. Further in Inder Singh v. State [8] the Apex Court has held that if the behaviour of
these two prisoners shows responsibility and trustworthiness, liberal though cautious, parole
will be allowed to them so that their family ties may be maintained and inner tensions may
not further build up. After every period of one year, they should be enlarged on parole for
two months…….‟ In view of the aforesaid, it is evident that the main objective and purpose
of granting parole is to the rehabilitate the prisoners and to provide them an opportunity to
reform themselves into a better human being, to allow them to develop a positive attitude and
interest in life and also to provide them with an opportunity to maintain their social ties.
KINDS OF PAROLE Custody Parole and Regular Parole are the two kinds of parole to
which a convict is eligible. Custody Parole can be granted in emergent situations and
circumstance only such as death of a family member, marriage of family member, serious
illness of family member or in any other emergent circumstances. During the Custody Parole,
the prisoner has to be escorted to the place of visit and return there from ensuring the safe
custody of the prisoner. Such prisoner would be deemed to be in prison for the said period
and the same would also be treated as period spent in prison. In all other situations, it is open
to the Government to consider applications for Regular Parole. Some of the grounds on
which the applications of the prisoner may be entertained are: 1. Serious illness of a family
member