The Sindh High Court (SHC) has observed that it is inhumane and cruel to deny parole to under-trial prisoners (UTPs) who have not been convicted of any crime on marriages and funeral of their loved ones.
The observation came on a petition filed by the home department additional chief secretary who had challenged the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) call-up notice on an inquiry pertaining to granting permission to a UTP without approval of the chief minister.
Additional Chief Secretary Home Iqbal Memon had approached the SHC against issuance of the call-up notice by NAB with regard to an inquiry into the release of a UTP on parole. NAB had issued the call-up notice to Memon over what the bureau said frequent, undue and unlawful permission to UTP Imran Ahmed Sheikh to be released on parole without the approval of the chief minister.
The call up notice said that NAB director general had constituted an inquiry committee to probe the matter and submit a report before an accountability court. A counsel for the petitioner submitted that under the Rule 916(2)(d) of the Sindh Prisons and Correction Services Act and Rules, the chief minster can grant parole for more than forty-eight hours including travelling time in case of marriage of blood relatives.
A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha after perusal of the record observed that all necessary requirements of the rules had been complied with. The bench observed that it was an executive function, not a judicial function, to grant parole to a convict or UTP.
The high court observed that the NAB special prosecutor did not point out any illegality in granting parole to the UTP by the competent authority for a limited period to attend the marriage ceremony even otherwise he was already granted bail by the court of law.
The high court set aside the NAB call-up notice issued to the additional chief secretary of the home department as well as any direction issued from the trial court directing NAB to proceed against the petitioner for granting parole to the UTP.
The SHC observed that it was not unusual for the human societies to grant short-term parole to UTPs and even convicts to attend events of extremely personal nature such as weddings and funerals of their relatives as in such cases, they were in police supervision so that they may not escape and be returned to the prison once their parole period had expired.
The high court observed that it was cruel and inhumane to deny parole to the UTPs who had not been convicted of any crime for attending marriages and funerals that were important aspects of their personal lives and they should not be easily deprived of attending them provided that permission was given by a competent authority in accordance with the rules. The high court observed that the Sindh government had the authority under the prisons rules to grant parole but such authority should be exercised diligently and not for any unjustifiably long periods.
Published in News Daily on 27 June 2025.