By Betzy Brize | Opinion
Every time we hear of another parolee murdering again, we should not be shocked. We should be furious. Because this is not just failure, it’s the Parole Scam in action. The system isn’t broken; it’s working exactly as it was designed to: to protect the powerful, to forgive the violent, and to gamble recklessly with the lives of the innocent.
A powerful critique of modern democratic systems, portraying elected leaders as authoritarian rulers masked by the illusion of representation.Where Is Justice When the Murderer Is Free and the Victim Is Dead - Again?
Let’s stop pretending that India’s criminal justice system is reformative or protective. It’s not. It’s rotting, compromised, politically hijacked, and, worst of all, it’s recklessly compassionate toward the cruelest among us. What other explanation is there when a man convicted of murder is set free on parole, only to murder again?
We are not talking about isolated incidents. We are looking at a pattern of state-enabled carnage, and yet there is no reckoning. No reform. No apology. Just more blood.
The Body Count Is Rising. So Is the Cowardice of Our Institutions.
Justice delayed. Justice denied. Parole approvedInside the Parole Scam India Won’t Talk About: When Justice Bends for KillersChenthamara - The State of Kerala's Parole Catastrophe
In 2019, Chenthamara was convicted of killing a woman named Sajitha. This was not a man deserving of leniency. This was a convicted murderer. And yet, in 2025, he was granted parole. What happened next? He walked into Sajitha's home, murdered her husband, and brutally hacked her 74-year-old mother-in-law to death.
This is not just a failure of parole, it is a criminal conspiracy by negligence. Who signed off on his release? Who evaluated him as "no longer a threat"? They have blood on their hands.
Devendra Sharma, Serial Killer, Released Like a Tourist
Devendra Sharma is a man who has confessed to killing more than 50 people. Let that sink in. Fifty. But after just 16 years in prison, this butcher was let out on parole in 2020. Unsurprisingly, he ran. For months, the police claimed they were looking for him. In reality, Sharma was laughing in our faces, hiding in plain sight. If he hadn't been caught, would he have killed again?
Is India now a country that rewards mass murderers with vacations?
Deepak - Pandemic Parole, Pandemic Murder
In Delhi, Deepak, serving a life sentence for kidnapping and murder, was released during the COVID-19 parole program. Did he use that time to visit family? No. He used it to hunt down and kill his ex-girlfriend. Her only crime? Moving on. His reward? Parole.
Her family lives with grief. The state? It moves on. Who is held responsible? No one. That’s the way our system likes it.
This Is Not Mismanagement. This Is Systemic Betrayal.
Let’s stop calling these “lapses” or “gaps.” These are not bureaucratic oversights. They are acts of betrayal by a judiciary that does not fear the people, by parole boards that function without accountability, and by law enforcement so numb that lives mean less than files.
Why are murderers being released on parole with no psychological assessment?
Why is political influence even allowed in parole decisions?
Why don’t parole boards publicly publish risk assessments and justifications?
We are owed answers. And yet, those in power remain silent.
The Hypocrisy of Rehabilitation
India's system hides behind the veil of “reform.” The idea is noble. The execution is criminal.
Reform without accountability is a lie. Rehabilitation is not possible without responsibility. And yet, violent criminals are released with no GPS tracking, no mandatory reporting, no halfway houses, no real rehabilitation programs - just a prayer and a signature.
You wouldn’t give a drunk a loaded gun and hope he stays sober. But India gives convicted murderers their freedom and hopes they don’t kill again.
The Parole Privilege Club
Let’s not pretend this system treats everyone equally. If you’re poor and nameless, you’ll rot in jail even for petty crimes. But if you’re a political pawn, a well-connected goon, or a high-profile criminal, you’ll get parole faster than a college kid gets chai.
Consider the TP Chandrasekharan case in Kerala: Three convicts, all linked to a political murder, were granted over 1,000 days of parole. That’s almost three years of freedom, for men who butchered a political dissenter in cold blood. And you think this isn’t about power?
Parole has become a currency, one traded in backroom deals and political favours.
The Police Are Silent. The Judiciary Is Distant. The People Are Alone.
When parolees disappear, police don’t sound alarms. When families of victims cry out, judges don’t respond. When the public demands change, we’re fed platitudes about “balancing human rights and public safety.”
But whose rights are we protecting here? The killer’s? Or the dead child’s?
We are a society that has begun to value criminal rehabilitation over victim justice. That is not compassion. That is cowardice.
As Justice Madan B. Lokur warned,
“Today, the rights of an accused far outweigh the rights of the victim of an offence in many respects... we still have a long way to go to bring the rights of victims of crime to the centre stage and to recognise them as human rights.”
The courts know the imbalance. The system lives it. The victims bear it.
Who Is Answering for These Crimes?
Where are the names of the parole officers who approved these releases?
Where is the list of judges and bureaucrats who signed these files?
The truth is, even when activists or families file RTI requests, most of them are denied under vague reasons like “internal communication” or “personal privacy.”
Accountability is buried in paperwork, and the state makes sure you never see it.
While the Guilty Walk Free, the Innocent Are Jailed, Tortured, and Forgotten
For every killer given a second chance, there’s a tribal boy rotting in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. For every rapist granted parole, there’s a political prisoner denied even a hearing.
This is not a bug in the system. This is the system.
And sometimes, that system kills.
Father Stan Swamy - The Martyr of India’s Legal CrueltyAge: 84 | Charged under UAPA | Never convicted
A Jesuit priest and human rights defender, Father Stan Swamy spent decades fighting for the rights of Adivasis in Jharkhand. He was arrested in 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon case, falsely accused of having Maoist links. He suffered from Parkinson’s, struggled to eat, and asked for a straw and sipper. The state denied him even that.
In his own words, Father Stan Swamy declared,
“What is happening to me is not something unique. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country.”
His struggle was not isolated. His death was not an accident. It was the slow execution of dissent.
He died on July 5, 2021, shackled to a system that feared his voice more than it ever feared any terrorist. His death was not an accident; it was an execution in slow motion.
Kartar Singh - A Farmer Who Died Waiting for JusticePunjab, 2023 | Accused of petty theft | Died in pre-trial custody
In 2023, Kartar Singh, a 62-year-old farmer, was arrested for allegedly stealing a water pump worth ₹2,000. With no criminal record and no real evidence, he languished in a Punjab jail for six months. He died of a treatable infection after being denied medical care. His family didn’t even know he was seriously ill until it was too late.
These Are Not Exceptions. They Are Design.
This system does not merely fail the innocent- it targets them.
It does not simply forget them - it erases them.
It does not accidentally kill them - it does so with bureaucratic precision and legal cover.
And while this happens, the guilty stroll out on parole, pose for garlands, and thank politicians for their “second chance.”
Democracy is the despotism of the elected. We vote them in. They weaponize the system to shield the monsters and punish the powerless. They speak of justice with clean hands, while the blood seeps from the files they signed.
Demand More. Demand Blood Accountability.
This is not just about angry journalism. This is a call to arms, civic, legal, and political. We cannot wait for the next innocent to die. The parole system must be burned to the ground and rebuilt with accountability, transparency, and the presumption that a murderer remains a threat until proved otherwise, not the other way around.
We need: Public access to parole records for violent criminals. Mandatory GPS tracking for parolees convicted of violent crimes. A judicial inquiry into every parole-related re-offense. A civilian oversight board to audit and approve all parole cases involving life sentences.
The Dead Cannot Cry for Justice - But We Can
This is India in 2025. A country that lets murderers roam free while citizens live in fear. A country where a system built to protect the people now protects predators instead.
You cannot fix this with silence. You cannot correct this with bureaucracy. This needs anger. Action. Accountability. Or else we will continue to be a nation that mourns the dead instead of protecting the living.
If we do not rise against the Parole Scam now, it will rise against us later. In our homes. In our headlines. In our cemeteries.
Because in this country, justice is not blind. It’s just bought.
The Hypocrisy of Rehabilitation
India's system hides behind the veil of “reform.” The idea is noble. The execution is criminal.
Reform without accountability is a lie. Rehabilitation is not possible without responsibility. And yet, violent criminals are released with no GPS tracking, no mandatory reporting, no halfway houses, no real rehabilitation programs - just a prayer and a signature.
You wouldn’t give a drunk a loaded gun and hope he stays sober. But India gives convicted murderers their freedom and hopes they don’t kill again.
The Parole Privilege Club
Let’s not pretend this system treats everyone equally. If you’re poor and nameless, you’ll rot in jail even for petty crimes. But if you’re a political pawn, a well-connected goon, or a high-profile criminal, you’ll get parole faster than a college kid gets chai.
Consider the TP Chandrasekharan case in Kerala: Three convicts, all linked to a political murder, were granted over 1,000 days of parole. That’s almost three years of freedom, for men who butchered a political dissenter in cold blood. And you think this isn’t about power?
Parole has become a currency, one traded in backroom deals and political favours.
The Police Are Silent. The Judiciary Is Distant. The People Are Alone.
When parolees disappear, police don’t sound alarms. When families of victims cry out, judges don’t respond. When the public demands change, we’re fed platitudes about “balancing human rights and public safety.”
But whose rights are we protecting here? The killer’s? Or the dead child’s?
We are a society that has begun to value criminal rehabilitation over victim justice. That is not compassion. That is cowardice.
As Justice Madan B. Lokur warned,
“Today, the rights of an accused far outweigh the rights of the victim of an offence in many respects... we still have a long way to go to bring the rights of victims of crime to the centre stage and to recognise them as human rights.”
The courts know the imbalance. The system lives it. The victims bear it.
Who Is Answering for These Crimes?
Where are the names of the parole officers who approved these releases?
Where is the list of judges and bureaucrats who signed these files?
The truth is, even when activists or families file RTI requests, most of them are denied under vague reasons like “internal communication” or “personal privacy.”
Accountability is buried in paperwork, and the state makes sure you never see it.
While the Guilty Walk Free, the Innocent Are Jailed, Tortured, and Forgotten
For every killer given a second chance, there’s a tribal boy rotting in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. For every rapist granted parole, there’s a political prisoner denied even a hearing.
This is not a bug in the system. This is the system.
And sometimes, that system kills.
Father Stan Swamy - The Martyr of India’s Legal Cruelty
Age: 84 | Charged under UAPA | Never convicted
A Jesuit priest and human rights defender, Father Stan Swamy spent decades fighting for the rights of Adivasis in Jharkhand. He was arrested in 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon case, falsely accused of having Maoist links. He suffered from Parkinson’s, struggled to eat, and asked for a straw and sipper. The state denied him even that.
In his own words, Father Stan Swamy declared,
“What is happening to me is not something unique. It is a broader process that is taking place all over the country.”
His struggle was not isolated. His death was not an accident. It was the slow execution of dissent.
He died on July 5, 2021, shackled to a system that feared his voice more than it ever feared any terrorist. His death was not an accident; it was an execution in slow motion.
Kartar Singh - A Farmer Who Died Waiting for Justice
Punjab, 2023 | Accused of petty theft | Died in pre-trial custody
In 2023, Kartar Singh, a 62-year-old farmer, was arrested for allegedly stealing a water pump worth ₹2,000. With no criminal record and no real evidence, he languished in a Punjab jail for six months. He died of a treatable infection after being denied medical care. His family didn’t even know he was seriously ill until it was too late.
These Are Not Exceptions. They Are Design.
This system does not merely fail the innocent- it targets them.
It does not simply forget them - it erases them.
It does not accidentally kill them - it does so with bureaucratic precision and legal cover.
And while this happens, the guilty stroll out on parole, pose for garlands, and thank politicians for their “second chance.”
Democracy is the despotism of the elected. We vote them in. They weaponize the system to shield the monsters and punish the powerless. They speak of justice with clean hands, while the blood seeps from the files they signed.
Demand More. Demand Blood Accountability.
This is not just about angry journalism. This is a call to arms, civic, legal, and political. We cannot wait for the next innocent to die. The parole system must be burned to the ground and rebuilt with accountability, transparency, and the presumption that a murderer remains a threat until proved otherwise, not the other way around.
We need: Public access to parole records for violent criminals. Mandatory GPS tracking for parolees convicted of violent crimes. A judicial inquiry into every parole-related re-offense. A civilian oversight board to audit and approve all parole cases involving life sentences.
The Dead Cannot Cry for Justice - But We Can
This is India in 2025. A country that lets murderers roam free while citizens live in fear. A country where a system built to protect the people now protects predators instead.
You cannot fix this with silence. You cannot correct this with bureaucracy. This needs anger. Action. Accountability. Or else we will continue to be a nation that mourns the dead instead of protecting the living.
If we do not rise against the Parole Scam now, it will rise against us later. In our homes. In our headlines. In our cemeteries.
Because in this country, justice is not blind. It’s just bought.
