Common room in Tihar to provide TV facility for high-risk ward inmates, HC told

new delhi: The prison authorities on Monday told the Delhi High Court that a common room would be built inside Tihar Jail here to provide television facility to inmates of high risk wards by end of September this year. The submission by the Director General (DG) Prisons was made before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan which said it expects the authority to stick to the timeline stated in court.

The high court also said that in view of the statement made on behalf of DG Prisons represented by Delhi government additional standing counsel Gautam Narayan, it saw no reason to further monitor the matter.

With the observation, the bench disposed of an application claiming that inmates of high risk wards are kept in isolation and in the prevailing situation of pandemic they have no contact with anyone from the outside world, leaving them depressed. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), in its application, had contended that in the present scenario, recreational facilities like television are necessary for such inmates to survive.

The application for recreational facilities for the high risk prisoners, including terrorists, had been filed in a pending PIL filed by the DSGMC in 2018, highlighting the plight of the such inmates.

The bench also disposed of the petition. On the last date of hearing on July 31, the high court had asked the prison authorities to consider putting up a television outside the high security ward in Tihar Jail for the inmates lodged there, saying it was a "small" request which would not affect their budget.

"They (prisoners) are also suffering. They are not asking for anything costly which would affect the prison budget. It is not such a big demand at all," it had said.