After a controversy erupted over the granting of repeated parole and furlough to actor Sanjay Dutt, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said his administration will strictly adhere to the rules and treat everyone equally.
"Government will strictly adhere to rules while deciding furlough to Sanjay Dutt. Our Government doesn't believe in discriminating or victimising anybody. Law treats all equal," said Fadnavis on a popular microblogging site on Friday. Dutt has been convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case.
Annually, convicts lodged in jails can get 14 days furlough, which can be extended by another 14 days, while they are entitled to 90 days of parole. The purpose of parole and furlough is to mitigate the suffering which a convict's incarceration causes to his or her family.
During their days in the opposition, the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) had alleged that the state government was giving parole to Dutt frequently, due to his political connections. While Dutt's parents, actors Sunil and Nargis Dutt, were prominent Congress politicians, his sister Priya was a Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai. She was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections this year.
The then-home minister R.R Patil had said the state home department will see if the laws can be changed to prevent misuse of parole. He had however defended the decision of the Pune divisional commissioner to grant parole to Dutt to attend to his wife, Maanyata, who was ill.
Patil had said that as per the proposed changes, convicts who took parole repeatedly or misused it would have the duration of parole added to their jail term. The likely changes to the Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959, were aimed at stopping the misuse of these provisions. However, these proposed changes will not extend to furlough, which is a prisoners' right, Patil had added.
Maharashtra has eight central prisons, 25 district prisons, three open prisons, one open colony and one Borstal school.
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