NEW DELHI:
Delhi High Court
on Thursday underlined that Indian law and prison rules do not permit
parole
to a
prisoner
on the ground of maintaining
conjugal relationships
, certainly not with a
live-in partner
.
The court said that a person cannot claim to have a fundamental right to a child from his or her live-in partner, who is a
convict
, while denying parole to a man who tried to pass off his live-in partner as his wife, hiding the fact he already had a wife.
“It would be also pertinent to note that the law, as it stands enacted today, does not permit grant of parole on the ground of maintaining ‘conjugal relationship’ even with one’s legally wedded wife, let alone a live-in partner,” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed while refusing parole to a man, who is serving life imprisonment, to consummate his “marriage” with his live-in partner and for maintaining social ties.
In the plea, the woman was mentioned as his wife and the man had also not revealed that he had not legally separated from his first wife with whom he had three children.
“The law in India as well as the Delhi Prison Rules do not permit grant of parole on the ground of maintaining conjugal relationships, that too with live-in partners….In other words, a live-in-partner, when the legally wedded wife of the convict is already alive and they already have three children, cannot claim to have a fundamental right to have a child from her live-in-partner who is a convict, within the parameters of law and prison rules,” Justice Sharma said.
The convict’s live-in partner, who lacks legal recognition as a “wife” or a “spouse”, does not fall within the scope of the definition of ‘family’ under the Delhi Prison Rules, the court said, adding though the Rules recognise the illness of a family member as a ground for considering application for parole, such ‘family member’ will not include the petitioner’s live-in partner, who, according to the interim application, is ill and requires treatment.
The court said if parole is granted on such grounds, it will open a flood gate of such petitions where many convicts may seek parole on the ground that they have a live-in partner apart from their legally-wedded partner or in case of an unmarried convict, a live-in partner who may want to have a child with the convict.
