Families of prisoners in Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli routinely ask for "bail" when what the law offers their relative — a convict serving sentence — is parole or furlough under the Delhi Prison Rules, 2018. The three releases have different sources, different decision-makers, different grounds and different consequences. An undertrial's liberty is governed by the bail chapters of the BNSS and decided by courts; a convict's temporary release is primarily an executive function of the prison administration and the Government, subject to judicial review. Choosing the right door — and preparing the file the decision-maker actually needs — is most of the battle. This explainer lays out the framework as applied in Delhi.
Three releases, three legal characters
| Bail / interim bail | Parole | Furlough | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who | Undertrials; convicts only via suspension of sentence in appeal | Convicts | Convicts with qualifying conduct and incarceration |
| Source | BNSS (Sections 478-483); Constitution | Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 | Delhi Prison Rules, 2018 |
| Decider | Court | Government/competent authority on jail report | Prison administration |
| Ground | Merits, custody need, trial integrity | Specified emergent/family grounds | Good conduct; periodic entitlement-like release |
| Counts as sentence? | N/A | Ordinarily no | Ordinarily yes |
Parole: the emergency valve
Parole answers events that cannot wait for release: death or serious illness of a close relative, marriage in the immediate family, delivery of the convict\'s wife, damage to the family home, or other pressing engagements the rules recognise. The application is made through the jail superintendent with supporting documents — medical records, death certificates, wedding cards — and moves on the strength of conduct reports and police verification of the ground. Custody parole, a shorter escorted variant, covers situations where regular parole is not feasible or the ground is a brief, specific event. Because parole time is generally added back to the sentence, convicts should weigh duration requests realistically.
Furlough: the earned breather
Furlough is structural rather than occasion-based: after a qualifying period of sentence with sustained good conduct, a convict becomes eligible for periodic spells of release designed to preserve family and social bonds and incentivise discipline. Eligibility is sensitive to the offence category and the prisoner\'s record — jail punishments interrupt the good-conduct chain — and certain categories of prisoners face exclusions or stricter scrutiny under the rules. Since furlough counts toward the sentence, it is ordinarily the more valuable release for eligible convicts.
Neither parole nor furlough is a right in the sense bail can be — but neither is a favour. Both are governed by rules, and rejections must be reasoned. The Delhi High Court exercises writ jurisdiction over arbitrary refusals, and equally, misuse of a release — overstaying, offending while out — forfeits future eligibility and invites cancellation.
Common strategic errors
Sequencing for families
When an emergency strikes a convict\'s family, the working order in Delhi is: apply for custody parole or emergency parole through the superintendent immediately with documents; escalate to the Government authority with a lawyer\'s representation if the file stalls; and move a writ petition in the High Court where the timeline or a rejection demands it — courts have shown willingness to decide such petitions urgently when the underlying event is imminent. For undertrials, the same emergency goes instead to the trial court as an interim bail application, and this distinction — executive door for convicts, judicial door for undertrials — is the single most useful thing a family can understand early.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between parole and furlough?
Parole is temporary release granted for specified emergent or family reasons — serious illness or death in the family, marriage of close relatives, critical personal matters — and the period ordinarily does not count as sentence served. Furlough is a periodic release earned by good conduct after a qualifying period of incarceration, meant to maintain family and social ties; it requires no special occasion, and the period is generally counted as sentence undergone. Both are creatures of the prison rules, not the BNSS.
Can an undertrial get parole or furlough?
No — these regimes apply to convicts. An undertrial's remedy for a family emergency is interim or regular bail from the court seized of the case, including custody parole in the court's discretion, where the prisoner is escorted for a few hours under guard for a specific event.
Who decides, and how long does it take?
Applications go through the jail superintendent with reports on conduct and police verification, and are decided by the competent authority under the Delhi Prison Rules — the Government for parole in most cases and the prison administration for furlough. Realistic timelines run in weeks, so applications tied to fixed events (a wedding, an exam) must be filed well in advance with documentary proof.
What if the application is rejected?
A reasoned rejection can be challenged by writ petition before the High Court of Delhi, which examines whether the authority applied the rules correctly and considered relevant material. Courts regularly interfere with mechanical rejections, but they do not sit as the primary decision-maker — a well-documented application at the first stage remains the best strategy.