Elgar Parishad Case: State denies phone call facility to jailed activist Gautam Navlakha
Mumbai: The state prison authorities on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court (HC) that Elgar Parishad accused Gautam Navlakha, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), cannot be permitted telephone calls from prison as per the existing rules
Mumbai: The state prison authorities on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court (HC) that Elgar Parishad accused Gautam Navlakha, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), cannot be permitted telephone calls from prison as per the existing rules. It, however, said that he is permitted to have physical meetings with lawyers and his kin as per law or write letters to them.
The court was informed that as per existing rules and March 25 circular, prisoners booked under special laws, including UAPA can only meet family members and lawyers through mulaqats or letters and could even avail the coin box phone call facility. When Navlakha challenged the circular, the court asked him to initiate appropriate proceedings as in the present case, he was appealing against a lower court order which refused a video call facility and posted the further hearing to August 2.
The division bench headed by justice Nitin Jamdar, while hearing the appeal by Navlakha, was informed by additional public prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde that apart from the December 2021 circular withdrawing mobile and video calling facilities extended to undertrials and convicts during the pandemic, another notification had been issued on March 25 this year regarding telephone calling facilities.
Shinde was responding to a query by the court in the previous hearing on whether the telephone call facility was withdrawn for all prisoners or there were exceptions.
Responding to the query on Wednesday, Shinde submitted that the March 25 resolution had categorised prisoners and allowed conditional access to telephone calling to certain inmates based on their behaviour over a six-month period. She, however, added that the resolution made a clear exception to prisoners booked under special acts like UAPA and MCOCA.
In light of this, Shinde said that Navlakha could not be allowed any type of phone calling facility, and added that pertain intending to meet Navlakha could do so through physical mulaqats or through letters.
However, advocate Yug Chaudhry for Navlakha objected to the discrimination among prisoners and said that such a resolution was not valid and should be struck down.
After hearing the submissions, the bench asked Navlakha to file a separate petition challenging the resolution.
Navlakha had approached the high court after a lower court had rejected his request for using video calling to connect with his wife who is 70 years old and lives in Delhi. The court had however dismissed his request prompting him to come to HC.
Prison of denials
Telephone calling is not the only facility that is being denied to Elgar Parishad case accused. Several other prison inmates in the case have been denied basic facilities...
Late Jesuit priest Fr Stan Swamy, one of the accused in the case, was denied a sipper and straw for which he had to approach the special NIA court.
Gautam Navlakha and other accused were denied books, which were sent by their family and friends, claiming that it can be used to pass articles in prison.
Navlakha was denied spectacles.
Recently, the staff of the Taloja jail, where most of the accused arrested in the case are lodged, had withdrawn mosquito nets which were earlier provided to them, claiming that the nets could be used for suicides or to harm others.
Anand Teltumbde, another accused in the case was denied a cot in the prison.