The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday indicated that it was inclined to order a probe into the escape of 42 convicts after their release on parole. The court asked the public prosecutor to assist it in determining the scope and manner of the inquiry.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael Cunha made these oral observation during the hearing of a petition, which was initiated suo motu by the court in 2014 after noting that a convict, who had filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, was found to be missing after his release on parole.
Later, prison authorities disclosed to the court that as many as 42 convicts released on emergency or general parole had failed to return, with one of them absconding since 2006.
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Following this, the court issued a series of guidelines for release of prisoners on parole and directed the police and the prison authorities to initiate steps to arrest the convicts. Since then, 18 have been caught.
When the petition came up for submission of a progress report on arresting the convicts at large, the Bench expressed suspicion that the police and prison officials had a role in the escape of the convicts as no action was taken to trace them till the developments of 2014.