Undertrial8217;s interview only on consent, says SC

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18: The Press does not have the unfettered right to interview an undertrial, the Supreme Court ruled, while deciding an ...

NEW DELHI, APRIL 18: The Press does not have the unfettered right to interview an undertrial, the Supreme Court ruled, while deciding an appeal by the Tihar jail authorities challenging permission given to a newsmagazine to interview alleged gangster Babloo Srivastava.

The magazine, India Today had, in 1995, moved the additional sessions judge here to interview Srivastava while he was lodged in Tihar jail. The judge had given blanket permission, and this being challenged by the prison authorities, the High Court modified the permission in 1996 by imposing certain conditions.

The High Court had said the interview would be subject to the undertrial8217;s consent and directed the newsmagazine to publish the interview, quot;with a sense of propriety and balance and without offending the law of contempt of courts or impairing the administration of justicequot;.

However, the jail authorities had contended that though the High Court had modified the sessions court order, the authorities had a right to denypermission for the interview.

A division bench of the Apex Court comprising Justices G B Pattanaik and M B Shah last week assailed the decision of the sessions judge granting blanket permission saying, quot;No court would pass such a blanket order mechanically without applying its mind to the relevant factors, as the Press does not have an unfettered right to interview an undertrial prisoner in jailquot;.

The bench said, quot;When we examine the High Court order, we find that the High Court did bear in mind the ratio of two decisions of this court and, therefore, while granting permission to interview the undertrial prisoner it modified the blanket order passed by the sessions judge putting such restrictions and conditions as contained in the order.quot;

However, it felt the necessity to impose a condition in addition to those already imposed by the High Court. quot;After hearing the counsel for the parties, we may add a further condition that the interview which the Press would take will be regulated by the provisionscontained in the jail manual and, therefore, the jail authorities could modulate the same in accordance with the jail manual.quot;

Story continues below this ad

During the pendency of a case in the Supreme Court, undertrial Babloo Srivastava was shifted to the high-security Naini jail at Allahabad. Keeping this in mind, the bench said, quot;We do not know whether the news magazine still intends to interview the said undertrial prisoner. In the event the magazine still intends to interview Babloo Srivastava, then it must approach the appropriate jail authorities where he has been lodged and those authorities would bear in mind the conditions imposed by the courts,quot; the bench said.