In Brief
Four life-sentenced convicts sought premature release under the Goa Prisons Rules after spending over 14 years in custody, including time spent on parole. The State refused, and the High Court dismissed their challenge, ruling that parole periods must be excluded when calculating the 14-year actual imprisonment requirement. The Supreme Court upheld this decision, holding that Rule 335 of the Rules explicitly counts parole as remission of sentence, not actual imprisonment. The Court reasoned that permitting parole time to count as actual imprisonment could allow influential prisoners to abuse the system, defeating the purpose of the 14-year requirement. The Special Leave Petitions were dismissed.
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