To speak to lawyer, jailed activist asks for wire

NEW DELHI: A member of Pinjra Tod group, who was arrested in a case related to the communal violence in North East Delhi, Wednesday urged the Delhi High Court to direct the Tihar jail to provide her headphones to maintain privacy of the conversation between her and the counsel over video conferencing.

JNU student Devangana Kalitha, who is in jail since May 23, also sought that the facility of video conferencing be provided to her counsel twice a week for half an hour each subject to the availability of the facilities and equitable use by other inmates.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru was informed by her counsel that these issues were also raised by another woman member of Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage) group Natasha Narwal and another bench of the high court has passed an order on it.

The judge listed the matter for July 3, after Kalitha’s advocate Adit S Pujari said the matter be deferred as the order passed in the other case has not been uploaded as yet.

The high court noted that the status report filed by the Tihar Jail authorities indicate that most of the grievances of the accused have been redressed. Besides video conferencing and headphones, Kalitha has also sought for the provision of facility to share the documents online since they are required for preparation of her defence and that books be not limited to academic books but even those which are available in the jail in accordance with prison rules.