Physical meetings between prisoners and lawyers, family have restarted, HC told

The submission was made before a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup J Bhambhani while hearing a plea by gangster Neeraj Bawana, who had sought resumption of the bi-weekly physical legal interviews as well as physical family member visits, as per the jail manual.

The Delhi government on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that it has resumed physical meetings of prisoners with their family members and lawyer since this month.

Currently, family members are allowed to meet prisoners once a fortnight and bi-weekly virtual legal interviews are allowed in the prison in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. (HT File Photo)

The submission was made before a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anup J Bhambhani while hearing a plea by gangster Neeraj Bawana, who had sought resumption of the bi-weekly physical legal interviews as well as physical family member visits, as per the jail manual.

Currently, family members are allowed to meet prisoners once a fortnight and bi-weekly virtual legal interviews are allowed in the prison in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plea filed through advocate Rudro Chatterjee and Yashovardhan Oza, has said that while the Delhi government has eased almost all other general restrictions imposed during the lockdown and has even thrown open cinema halls and swimming pools, it was yet to resume the physical meetings for prisoners in jails.

Advocate Chatterjee said that even schools and universities have been re-opened and directions have also been passed for physical production of the accused in courts from custody.

Advocate Rahul Mehra, standing counsel of the Delhi government (criminal), and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, told the court that the government had resumed both physical meetings with family and lawyers and issued notification in this regard on February 6 and February 8.

The court, while recording the statement of Mehra, disposed of the plea after Bawana’s counsel said that he was satisfied with the government’s submission.

During the hearing, the court also remarked that when everything including movie halls has been thrown open then why the prisoners lodged in the jails should be deprived of physical meetings.

Physical meetings have been stopped in jails across the city from March 25 last year after the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the country. It was later partially resumed where an inmate was allowed to meet his family physically once in a fortnight.