HC to state: Give prisoners access to phone calls, e-mulakats

Bombay HC directs state to ensure all inmates in Maharashtra prisons have access to phone calls and e-mulakat facilities as per government resolution.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court last week directed the state government to ensure all inmates lodged in prisons across the state are given access to phone calls and e-mulakat (video call) facilities, as per the government resolution issued by the state on March 22, 2024.

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A division bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Arif S Doctor issued the directive on a public interest litigation filed by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, asking the state and the prison department to implement the provisions of telephonic and electronic modes of communication as provided in the Model Prison Manual, 2016 in all state prisons.

During the hearing on May 8, advocate Rebecca Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioner body, pointed out that following the provisions made in the Model Prison Manual, the state issued a circular making provisions for access to telephone calls and e-mulakats.

The circular provided that all inmates – undertrial prisoners and convicts lodged in prisons and jails, where Allen Group Smartcard phone services are available, should be allowed to make telephone calls to four of their family members, relatives or friends, and the lawyer for 6 minutes, thrice a week, and should be charged ₹1 per minute.

Where the Group Smartcard phone service is unavailable, the jail superintendent should decide at his level, depending on the number of inmates and available handsets. The facility, according to the circular, would be made available to the inmates after verification of the contact numbers of the family members, relatives, friends and lawyers.

On advocate Gonsalves’ insistence, the bench directed the state to make available the telephone call facility to all the inmates of all jails by providing necessary infrastructure wherever required.

For e-mulakats, the circular provided that the undertrial prisoners should be allowed to meet one of the five persons – family members, relatives, friends and lawyer – once a week physically during mulakat (meeting) hours or through video conferencing. Similarly, convicts can meet their family members, relatives or friends once every fortnight.

The court, however, refused to consider the petitioner’s contentions about the exclusion of Pakistani prisoners lodged in Maharashtra prisons from the benefit of access to telephone calls to their family members and friends.