MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court issued notice to the prison authorities in a case seeking reduction of telephone charges collected from prisoners and fixation of a reasonable tariff.
KR Raja of Madurai filed a PIL before the Madurai Bench seeking affordable and equitable telephone and video-call facilities for prisoners in Tamil Nadu prisons.
He sought directions to reduce the telephone charges collected from prisoners and fix a reasonable tariff in line with market rates.
He also sought free telephone facilities for poor, elderly, mentally ill and differently abled prisoners, free communication with lawyers for legal consultation, and constitution of an expert committee to review prison communication policies.
It was also submitted that prisoners were being charged Rs. 28 for 10 minutes of telephone usage, amounting to Rs. 280 per month.