Allow phone calls to inmates from kin till video-conferencing facilities take shape: Bombay HC

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to permit phone calls to inmates till per its May 24 decision to enable video-conferencing (VC) facilities between the prisoners and their relatives are set up and working.
"The number of phone calls per week per inmate, the duration and the days on which they may be allowed are left entirely to the discretion of the correctional home authorities," said a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice KK Tated.
The HC also directed jails to immediately implement an April 8 circular which provides that jailors open a special account to facilitate deposits from inmates’ families to enable them to buy food or items from jail canteens, since money orders have stopped during the lockdown.
The HC was hearing two Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Archana Rupwate seeking to curb spread of Covid-19 inside jails. Their counsel Mihir Desai said while the state has taken steps to decongest jails, over 14,000 bail pleas are pending before diverse courts across states and such pendency frustrates the salutary recommendation of the high power panel.
The HC said, “No direction as such is required since we hope and trust that no application for bail shall be kept pending unnecessarily.”
To a concern, state public prosecutor Deepak Thakare said all 158 families of Arthur Road jail inmates were informed of their infection. Thakare sought time to respond to a plea to test all remaning Arthur Road jail inmates. But action be taken as warranted, the HC said.
While parole granted to those convicted can be given by jail officials themselves, bail is granted by courts and the state has filed around applications on behalf of 14,000 undertrial inmates.