Challenged 'Parole To Have Child' Order, Supreme Court Said This

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to intervene in a Rajasthan High Court's order which had granted parole of fifteen days to a life-term convict to father a child.

The high court's ruling was challenged in the Supreme Court by the Rajasthan government last month. The state government, in its petition, had contended that the order has opened flood gates and that many convicts are now applying for parole on the same ground.

The Supreme Court today asked the Rajasthan government to approach the high court with its concerns.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Bela M Trivedi said if any other convict gets furlough on the same ground and the Rajasthan government has an objection to it, then it can approach the High Court.

The top court said it has reservations about some of the observations made by the Rajasthan High Court, but it will not intervene in the matter.

On April 18, the Rajasthan High Court gave parole to Nand Lal -- who is in Ajmer Central Jail -- after his wife approached the court, seeking that she be allowed to have a child. Citing "want of progeny" she appealed that her husband be granted parole.

In her plea, she said she has been deprived of her right to have progeny, even though she has not committed any offence and has not been given any punishment.

The High Court had ruled that denying conjugal rights to the prisoner in this case will adversely affect the rights of his wife.

In the order, the court said that the right to have a progeny also finds a mention in the religious scriptures in the literature available on various sites.