4 min readChandigarhNov 10, 2023 09:05 AM IST
First published on: Nov 10, 2023 at 09:05 AM IST
Taking suo motu congnisance of reports of use of mobiles by the inmates in Punjab jails, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday said it has come to know that there was not much headway in a matter related to a television interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi from jail aired almost eight months ago, and directed the additional director general of prisons to file an affidavit.
A division bench of Justices Anupinder Singh Grewal and Kirti Singh also expressed concern over the interview, observing that Bishnoi, an accused in the 2022 murder case of singer Subhdeep Singh, alias Sidhu Moosewala, was either in police or judicial custody when he spoke to the television channel. It said those who facilitated the interview should be identified at the earliest and taken to task.
In March, a private television news channel ran the two-part interview of Bishnoi. The Punjab Police had then claimed that the interview was not recorded in any of the jails in the state. It had subsequently formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the matter.
“It has come to our notice that one of the suspects in the murder of Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala, namely Lawrence Bishnoi, had been interviewed by a news channel. The interview was telecast in March from 14.03.2023 to 17.03.2023. The suspect was said to be in the custody of the Punjab Police or judicial custody in the state of Punjab at that time,” read the court order.
On court’s query as to whether Bishnoi was in police or judicial custody when the interview was conducted, the counsel for the Punjab government submitted that he was in judicial custody in the Bathinda Jail when the interview was telecast and that efforts were on to ascertain the time and place of the interview.
A two-member committee comprising the special DGP (STF) and ADGP (prisons) was formed in March to look into the matter and the enquiry is underway.
The court said it is a matter of grave concern that a suspect in police or judicial custody was allowed to give an interview at length. “The officer(s) who permitted or facilitated the interview need to be identified and taken to task at the earliest,” the bench said in its order.
“The committee had been constituted in March 2023 and seven months have elapsed but not much headway has been made. The additional director general of prisons shall file an affidavit as to why it has taken so long for the committee to submit its report,” the order read.
The court also asked advocate Tanu Bedi to assist it as an “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) in the matter and fixed November 28 as the next date of hearing.
The HC has taken the suo motu notice of media reports pertaining to the usage of mobile phones within the jail premises by the inmates. While taking up the matter suo motu, the court had asked: “How are the guards posted at the watch towers oblivious to the articles being thrown over the boundary wall and successfully being retrieved by the inmates? How and when are the inmates rotated amongst the cells which have TVs and the ones without such a provision as has been stated and moreover when was the present petitioner moved to such a cell along with the other inmates as seen in the video, and whether all inmates are regularly frisked after every Court hearing and after the physical mulakats”.
Punjab’s Additional Advocate General Ishma Randhawa, Haryana’s Additional Advocate General Bijender Dhankhar, and Public Prosecutor, Chandigarh Manish Bansal accepted notice and prayed for time to seek instructions and file response.
In March, a private television news channel ran the two-part interview of Lawrence Bishnoi. 
Share
