Lucknow: Forty-three prisoners who were released from Lucknow jail during the Covid pandemic, have not returned to jail.
The prisoners were released on parole to prevent the spreading of the infection since most of the jails in Uttar Pradesh were overcrowded.
The concerned jail administration has written several letters for their arrest, yet the police have not been able to catch the missing prisoners for one and a half years.
During the pandemic, the Supreme Court had directed the state governments to release on parole the convicted prisoners who were imprisoned for up to seven years.
Therefore, on the recommendation of the High-Power Committee constituted in the government, on May 20, 2021, a total of 122 prisoners lodged in the state capital's district jail were released on parole for 90 days.
Later, due to the increasing graph of Corona, the parole period of the prisoners was extended.
The government issued an order and directed everyone to return to jail by July 20, 2021. But only 79 of them returned.
Jailor of District Jail Lucknow, Rajendra Singh said that a letter has been written to the Superintendent of Police of the concerned district for the arrest of the missing prisoners.
With inputs from IANS