Telephone facility for foreign nationals in Tihar

Foreign nationals lodged in Tihar jail can now make telephone calls to friends and family members in their native country.

Foreign nationals lodged in Tihar jail can now make telephone calls to friends and family members in their native country.

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The facility, which will be available to them from next week, came following a Delhi High Court order allowing foreign nationals incarcerated in jail to keep in touch with their relatives and friends over telephone.

"The High Court issued an order that foreign nationals in Tihar jail be allowed to make phone calls to their friends and relatives in their country as and when they request," Law Officer and spokesperson, Tihar prisons, Sunil Gupta, said, adding, "this facility will be available to them from Tuesday".

As per the statistics, of the 11,652 prisoners lodged in the jail, only 521 are foreigners, including 78 females.

However, the facility does not come free of cost. "He or she has to pay for each call made. There are rules for a prisoner while making a call," Gupta said.

Since 2002, the foreign nationals have been allowed to send e-mails to their relatives as it was observed that while Indian inmates get a chance to meet their kins and receive letters too, the foreign prisoners have little contact with their loved ones.

However, all mails sent and received are scrutinised to check for any threat to security. If the content of a mail is found suspicious, the inmate concerned is denied the facility.