A Special Court in Mumbai allowed an artiste belonging to the Pune-based cultural group Kabir Kala Manch Jyoti Jagtap five general/educational books a month from her relatives/advocates.
Ms. Jagtap was arrested on September 8, 2020 in the Bhima Koregaon caste-violence case. She filed an application from Byculla jail through her advocates Sharif Shaikh and Krutika Agarwal seeking directions from the jail authorities to allow her to receive books in prison from her family members, lawyers or through post.
The order by Special Judge Rajesh Katariya that was made available on Tuesday read, “The jail superintendent shall examine and verify books prior to handing them over. In the event, the books provided contain any objectionable, obscene or any material propagating or giving any unlawful message or material of banned organisation namely the Revolutionary Democratic Front, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) or any other organisation, the same shall not be allowed to be received by Ms. Jagtap.”
The Court also relied upon a 1966 judgment by the Bombay High Court that ruled, “The State government may prevent a detenu from receiving periodicals and books which cannot be lawfully obtained by people who are not under detention.”
The plea mentioned that Ms. Jagtap was an M.A. in Psychology and desired to receives books every month in prison. On a previous occasion the Superintendent of Byculla prison had refused to accept the delivery of books and had asked the advocate and the family member to bring the court order. Ms. Jagtap had quoted The Bombay Conditions of Detention Order, 1951 pointing to the provisions on receiving books including periodicals by security prisoners.
The Counsel for National Investigation Agency opposed the plea and said Ms. Jagtap had not given the names of the books.
