No relief for RJD chief Lalu Prasad, says jail IG

RJD president Lalu Yadav will not get parole, keeping in view the coronavirus outbreak in the country. This development comes in order with the Supreme Court's direction to release that those who are convicted for economic or serious offences and sentenced to over seven years of jail cannot be released on parole.

Ranchi (Jharkhand):Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad, who is serving a seven-year sentence in a Ranchi jail in connection with the fodder scam, will not get parole amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

The Supreme Court had on March 24 directed all States and Union Territories to set up high-level panels to consider releasing those convicts on parole, who have been jailed for up to seven years, in a bid to decongest the jails to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Following the top court direction, a high-level meeting was held with Justice SC Mishra, a High Court Judge, Jail Inspector General (IG) Shashi Ranjan along with other senior officials near here on Wednesday.

"We held a high-level committee meeting in order to release the prisoners on parole. But those who are convicted for economic or serious offences and sentenced to over 7 years of jail cannot be released on parole", said Jail IG.

However, several inmates are being released from jails across the country in order to maintain social distancing inside the premises to prevent the spread of the highly communicable virus.

File Pic: RJD chief Lalu Prasad along with his son Tejashwi Yadav at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

Yadav, who has been in prison since December 2017, was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in 2018 under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and seven years under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the fodder scam case. Notably, both the sentences are being served consecutively.

The RJD chief is currently undergoing medical treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Jharkhand's Ranchi.