Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Tihar Jail authorities to consider giving an iPad to Asif Balwa, named as 2G spectrum scam co-conspirator, who wants the gadget to read the nearly 80,000 pages of charge sheet and related documents filed against him.

Justice S. Muralidhar said: “The iPad Balwa will use, shall be given to the law officer of the Tihar and they will take it to the IT department of the Delhi government that will disable all features used for communication and its functions related to internet access and then download all the documents to it.”

The court directed the Tihar Jail authorities to explore all possible options, keeping in mind the security aspect and respond by Friday.

Balwa Tuesday sought the Delhi High Court’s permission to keep an iPad in his cell at his own expense.

He also said that he should be allowed to have vegetarian home cooked food as per the jail manual.

The court allowed him to have vegetarian home cooked food twice a week.

“Due to voluminous documentation filed by the investigation agency, we are unable to keep copies of the entire charge sheet,” said his application.

“This lack of access to the material is causing grave prejudice and is against my constitutionally protected right to free and fair trial,” it said.

“….. (It) stops me from preparing my defence or even prepare for the stage of consideration of charge,” it said.

Asif pleaded that he be permitted to carry electronic copies of the charge sheet and the related documents filed by the investigating agency.

According to Tihar officials, the plea was unique.

Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said allowing such plea would be a great security concern.

Earlier when mobile phones were recovered in Tihar, jammers were installed on court’s order.

Opposing Balwa’s plea, Tihar Jail counsel argued that if such pleas are allowed, every accused will request for the same. The law should be same for all.

“There is no problem in allowing the iPad but the only fear is that it might be misused inside the jail,” the jail counsel said.

Meanwhile, an IT expert said: “For accessing internet on the iPad all you need is a pre-activated SIM card, which can be easily bought inside the jail in eatables, shoes and other items, so disabling the same won’t solve any purpose.”

The court said: “The IT department will also inform the jail authorities about how to detect the instrument if it is misused.”