E-Paper
Court asks Tihar if they can restart in-person meeting of prisoners with family
New Delhi The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the prison authorities to explore the possibility of allowing in-person meetings for prisoners with their family members provided they wear proper protective gear and masks, as virtual meetings were not feasible for everyone
New Delhi
The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the prison authorities to explore the possibility of allowing in-person meetings for prisoners with their family members provided they wear proper protective gear and masks, as virtual meetings were not feasible for everyone.
Justice Prathiba M Singh said that family members of every prisoner may not have access to the kind of gadgets and internet connection required for online meetings and therefore, the feasibility of conducting in-person meetings be explored.
The court also asked director general (DG) of prisons Sandip Goyal whether the number of meetings of prisoners with their family and lawyers can be increased to four per month instead of the current three.
Delhi government additional standing counsel Gautam Narayan, appearing for Goyal, told the court that earlier eight meetings per month were allowed and the number was reduced to three, that too virtually, after the Covid-19 outbreak.
Subsequently, when the situation improved, in-person meetings were restarted, but they were again stopped in April after the surge in Covid cases. He, however, added that he will seek instructions on the queries posed by the court.
The court also sought to know whether the computers in the computer centre in Tihar Jail can be made operational for prisoners to access the websites of Delhi Police, trial courts, Delhi high court and the Supreme Court, so that they can keep track of their cases and FIRs against them.
It also asked the DG Prisons to consider providing more computers with Internet connection in the legal aid room of the jail, so that lawyers can help prisoners find out their case status and also draft pleas.
The queries were posed to DG Prisons after being raised before the court by two JNU students — Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita — who are in jail in connection with the communal riots in north east Delhi.
Narwal and Kalita, arrested last year in May and in judicial custody presently, had sought a direction to the DG Prisons to allow them and other inmates to have a choice of in-person or virtual meetings to communicate with family and friends as is provided under the Prison Rules of 2018.
The two students were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged role in conspiring to orchestrate the riots.
