Apex court for disabling cell phones in jails

The Supreme Court today mooted the idea of disabling mobile phone services inside prisons across the country to stop its misuse by criminals and influential inmates.

The apex court asked mobile service operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Reliance Infocomm to tell it by January 11 the equipment with which mobile phone services could be jammed within the prison precincts.

The Bench comprising Justice Santosh Hegde and Justice SB Sinha was hearing the case of Pappu Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member of Parliament, who is presently lodged in the Beur Jail in Bihar.

Referring to the public meeting held by Yadav inside the Beur Jail at Patna and the mobile phones seized from him, the Bench said "there are instances when highly influential persons and powerful personalities have misused the mobile phones, while being lodged inside the prison."

It had to be stopped across India in all jails and the process could begin by installing the jammers at the central jails, the Bench observed.

Reliance Infocomm 's counsel Harish Salve told the court that Yadav used a phone, which was registered in his sister's name and the identification shown by her was that of her gun licence. The company after checking the records had found that of the two mobile phones used by Yadav, one was in the name of his sister, he said.

"If the sister shows the gun licence issued to her by the Bihar government as the document for the purpose of identification, then such an authentic document could not be questioned," he said.

The other phone was the subject matter of the alleged calls made for the purpose of extortion, an issue which was pending before the Patna High Court, he said.

The high court had recently ordered a raid on the jail and recovered several mobile phones. According to the Bihar Medical Association, Yadav was masterminding kidnapping of doctors from the jail.

During the raid, his cronies mobbed the military police team. Following this, the apex court transferred the case about mobile phones to itself, in a public interest case.

Yadav is in jail despite a high court order granting him bail, as the apex court had stayed that order. Six cases are pending against him in Bihar.

The Supreme Court had suggested during last month's hearing that Yadav could be shifted outside Bihar and tried through video-conferencing facilities.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today brought a list of jails where video facilities are available. They are Sabarmati, Vellore, Mysore, Coimbatore, Palayamcottai and Poonmallee jails.

Additional Solicitor-General Amarendra Saran, who appeared for the CBI, argued in favour of shifting Yadav out of Bihar. The CBI proposed Yadav's shifting to one of the central jails at Poonmallee, Palayamcottai, Vellore, Coimbatore (all Tamil Nadu), Mysore (Karnataka) and Sabarmati (Gujarat).

Regarding shifting Yadav, the court decided to hear the appeal of the CBI seeking cancellation of bail. It will be heard next Tuesday.

Senior advocate RK Jain, appearing for Yadav, told the judges that his record in the jail was clean since the last hearing and gave an undertaking that he would continue to obey all rules of the jail manual.

Justice Sinha pointed out to him that he had challenged the validity of the jail manual itself. Justice Hegde said he would be judged not on what he would do in future but what he did in the past.