Punjab and Haryana High Court calls for clarity on foreign prisoners' phone access

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, May 7

Just about a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court made clear its intent to ring in a new system for enabling foreign national prisoners lodged in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh to telephonically contact their kin back home, a Division Bench has called for affidavits on the number of such prisoners in the two states and the Union Territory.

The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji also called for details of foreign nationals who had completed their sentences. The direction came after the Bench took exception to the payment of call and related charges by the prisoners in the two states.

The Bench observed the aspect would have to be looked into again as the foreign nationals would not have money with them for such expensive calls. “Let better affidavits as to the apprehensions expressed by us be filed by the State of Punjab, State of Haryana and Union Territory, Chandigarh…,” the Bench asserted.

Referring to an affidavit filed by Haryana Inspector-General of Prisons Jagjit Singh, the Bench observed the position stated was better than that of Punjab. An audio and video prison inmate calling system had already been installed in 20 jails across the state. A memorandum of undertaking had also been signed in January 2022 with a service provider for installation and running of the system for five years.

The Bench asserted the affidavit talked about per-minute call rates to be paid by the prisoners in accordance with the memorandum of undertaking. It also talked about written clearance from the Commissioner of Police/Superintendent of Police of the district concerned, rather than the Union of India as proposed by the State of Punjab.

The Bench also took note of another affidavit filed by Deputy Inspector-General (Prisons) Surinder Singh on Punjab’s behalf. A perusal of the affidavit showed that a communication had been addressed to the Secretary, Punjab Department of Prisons, for approval to provide ISD facility to the foreign nationals lodged in jails in the state. The case will now come up in the last week of May.

The high court had earlier initiated suo motu or court on its own motion proceedings in public interest following a request made by a Kenyan national during Justice Sandhawalia’s inspection of a central jail (women).

Justice Sandhawalia was told during the inspection that system was not in place for the foreign nationals lodged in the jails to get in touch with their families after their arrest. “In such circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that a larger human rights issue arises, which needs to be addressed by both the states of Punjab and Haryana…,” the Bench had asserted.