JUDGMENT :

Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, J.

1. Prayer in the present Criminal Writ Petition filed under Section 226/227 of the Constitution of India read with Section 5 (1) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022 (for short the Act of 2022') is for grant of emergency parole to the petitioner by quashing the order dated 29.12.2024, passed by the Deputy Jail Superintendent, District Jail, Karnal (Annexure P-3).

2. The petitioner is a convict and is undergoing sentence as per the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 03.09.2024 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Karnal in FIR No. 977, dated 30.11.2018, under Section 302/120-B, 468/34, 471/34, 201/120-B IPC and 25(1A) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, registered at Police Station Assandh, District Karnal. The appeal filed by the petitioner assailing the findings of conviction and order of sentence has been admitted by this Court.

3. Learned counsel for the State has filed the custody certificate of the petitioner reflecting therein that the petitioner has actually undergone 06 years, 01 month and 09 days of his sentence.

3.1 A status report, dated 20.01.2025 by way of an affidavit of Sh. Charan Singh, Deputy Superintendent, District Jail, Karnal, along with Annexures R-1 and R-2, has also been filed by learned State counsel in Court today. The same is taken on record.

4. Counsel for the petitioner contends that the father of the petitioner is in critical condition and needs immediate surgical intervention as per the Summary of Admission and Diagnosis (Annexure P-1) given by Medanta Hospital, Gurugram.

5. Learned State counsel has justified the impugned order declining parole to the petitioner by referring to the provisions of Sub-Section (3) of Section 3 of the Act of 2022 and submitting that the petitioner has not yet completed 01 year of sentence after his conviction. As such, he is not eligible for regular parole.

5.1 However, the State counsel has confirmed that Mr. Surender Singh (father of the petitioner), has been admitted in Medanta Hospital, The Medicity, Sector 38, Gurugram and this fact is also acknowledged as per the report of the Station House Officer, Gohana, District, Sonipat (Annexure R-2).

5.2 Learned State counsel further submits that the petitioner has only applied for grant of 10 weeks regular parole and he did not submit medical certificate counter-signed by the Civil Surgeon regarding illness of his father.

6. We have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and have also perused the paper-book.

7. It is undisputed that the father of the petitioner is suffering from serious ailments and that he is admitted in a hospital for the last one month. The Station House Officer in the report (Annexure R-2) has only objected to the grant of parole to the petitioner on the ground that if released on parole, he could abscond and commit another crime.

8. The petitioner being son has the responsibility to take care of his father who is in a critical condition and is admitted in a hospital with serious medical conditions.

9. As per the provisions of Section 5 of the Act of 2022, a convict prisoner can be released by the authorities on "Emergency Parole" irrespective of the period of sentence undergone by him, if a member of the convict-prisoner's family is a medically serious condition. Section 5 of the Act of 2022 is reproduced as under:-

"5. (l) The competent authority shall grant emergency parole to a convicted prisoner subject to such conditions and procedure as specified under sections I I and 12. Emergency parole shall be granted to a convicted prisoner any time irrespective of the period of sentence undergone by him if a member of the convicted prisoner's family has died or is in serious condition or the convicted prisoner himself is in serious condition.

(2) The competent authority shall verify the facts through in-charge of the police station concord or through a jail officer not blow the rank of Assistant Sup