19 convicts, mostly murderers, out on bail in Uttarakhand, BJP fumes

DEHRADUN: BJP approached Uttarakhand’s chief electoral officer on Saturday seeking the immediate cancellation of the parole of 19 convicts freed for varying periods by the state government ahead of the assembly elections.
The convicts were paroled in December and early January for periods ranging from one to three months. Most of them are murder convicts serving their sentences at jails in Dehradun, Haridwar and Sitarganj.
Saying the grant of parole to them was “part of a large conspiracy”, BJP member Puneet Mittal said, “The parole has been given to such hardened criminals on extremely flimsy grounds like attending to the treatment of a spouse, participating in a family function, or getting their house repaired.
This points at a clear collusion between the Congress government and officials to make all these criminals available for the elections.”
“We are concerned that free and fair polling would not be possible in the state with such a large number of known criminals being allowed out during election time. That is why we are demanding that their parole be immediately cancelled,” he added.
Fellow BJP member Jyoti Prasad Gairola added, “It reveals the frustration of Congress, that, with just one month left for polling, they are having to resort to criminals to bolster their chances. It is ironic that across the country, the established practice during an election is to cancel the parole of criminals involved in heinous crimes, but the Congress government has done just the reverse.”
Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat’s media adviser Surendra Kumar termed BJP’s allegations “baseless”. “Every person has his rights and similarly the jail inmates, too, have some rights, of which parole is one.
There is an elaborate procedure for granting parole which involves jail officials and district authorities. Only after all the conditions are fulfilled that inmates are awarded parole. No one can just release a criminal from jail on one’s whims. BJP is simply raising these matters to remain in the limelight.”
(Inputs by Kautilya Singh)