The Court was dealing with a plea filed by NGO, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
In the plea, PUCL recounted that when prison mulakats (prison visits) had been stopped in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prison authorities provided telephone and video conference facilities to prisoners to speak with their respective lawyers and relatives.
However, this facility was abruptly stopped in 2021 by the prison authorities and they went back to a system of having only physical meetings between prisoners and their lawyers or relatives, the plea said.
The PIL, therefore, called for the provision of telephones and electronic communication as per the Model Prison Manual in all jails.
PUCL also urged the Court to set aside the abrupt government decision taken in December 2021 to discontinue electronic communication facilities in prisons.
Source: Barandbench
