Rajasthan High Court Directs DM To Decide Within 4 Days Prisoner's Application For Parole To Support Wife During Child Birth

Rajasthan High Court has directed the District Magistrate, Dausa to decide a prisoner's application for grant of parole, for the purpose of his wife's delivery, within 4 days.

The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand opined that as per Rule 23 of the Rajasthan Prisoners Release on Parole Rules, 2021 the application should have been decided within a period of 4 days from the date of receipt.

“Without any justified reason, the application filed by the petitioner has not been decided by the District Magistrate/ District Committee. Aforesaid act of the authorities is not in consonance with the mandatory provisions contained under Rule 23 of the Rule of 2021.”

The Petitioner had filed the application for parole under the Rules before the Superintendent of Jail which was forwarded to the District Magistrate in December, 2024. However, even after a considerable time, no decision was taken on the application. Given the urgency of the situation, since the delivery date of petitioner's wife was fast approaching, petition was moved before the Court.

After perusing the record, the Court opined that the petitioner could be granted emergent parole on the basis Rule 11(1)(v) of the Rules, and as per Rule 23 of the Rules, an application of parole was supposed to be decided by the District Committee within 4 days from the date of receipt of the application.

In this light, the Court opined that the action of the authorities was not in consonance with the mandatory provision of Rule 23, and looking at the fast-approaching due delivery date of the petitioner's wife, the District Magistrate was directed to decide the pending application within 4 days from the order.

“Looking to the urgency involved in the matter and looking to the fact that the due date of delivery of the wife of the petitioner is 29.01.2025 and delivery may occur at any point of time, therefore, under these circumstances, a direction is issued to the District Magistrate, Dausa to decide the pending application expeditiously, as early as possible, within a period of four days from today and pass appropriate orders.”

Accordingly, the petition was disposed of.

Title: Himmat Singh v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 35

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