Mumbai, May 21 -- The Bombay High Court has struck down a Maharashtra prison rule that barred inmates from seeking parole until they completed one year of actual imprisonment, terming the provision "manifestly arbitrary and "holding that the condition was arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
Justice Madhav Jamdar and Justice Pravin Patil, sitting at the Kolhapur bench of the high court, were hearing a petition filed by a convict sentenced to one year's imprisonment in a cheque bouncing case. He had moved an application for parole before the jail authorities but the same was rejected on the ground that Rule 14(1) of the 2024 Rules mandated completion of one year of imprisonment before a prisoner could apply for...