Sixteen Shahjahanpur district jail inmates who were out on parole during the Covid pandemic did not return even after the deadline ended following which police were contacted to get them arrested, an official said Tuesday. Parole is a temporary suspension of prison sentence.

When the Covid-19 infection was spreading rapidly in 2021, criminals jailed for minor offences and elderly inmates were released on parole on the directives of a high-level panel to decongest the prisons, Jail Superintendent Mijaji Lal told PTI.