Additional Public Prosecutor Sangeeta Shinde appearing for Taloja Central Prison also responded to the allegations made by Navlakha about denying him facilities in prison.
She stated that during COVID period, prison authorities had decided not to accept any parcels either by post or delivery to control spread of COVID in prisons. This was the reason why a book sent to Navlakha was returned, it was contended.
The Court, however, refused to accept the submission.
The Bench pointed out that the order of prison officials was unclear about the reason for returning the parcel and from the language used in the order, the prisons officials appeared to have considered the parcel as a “security threat”.
Shinde also submitted that Navlakha was living in a high security cell within the prison, where he was the only inmate in the cell and had an attached washroom, which he himself has to clean as per jail manual.
Source: Barandbench
