A petition was filed in the Madurai Bench of Madras on Thursday by S. Ravichandran, life convict in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, currently lodged in Madurai Central Prison, seeking a direction for the telecast of Tamil and infotainment channels at the prison.
He complained that the prison had not switched over to a digital platform and instead was still relying on ‘analogue antenna.’ The prisoners watched only Doordarshan, the national broadcaster. Most of the inmates were Tamils and did not follow Hindi, the language in which most of the programmes were telecast, he said.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court, in the Sunil Batra case, held that undertrials as well as prisoners had a right to information and depriving inmates of recreational activities might cause adverse effects upon reformatory methods.
Further, in 2015, the Guwahati High Court had directed the Assam government to provide cable TV connection in the common area of Guwahati Central Prison so that the inmates could watch the 2015 Cricket World Cup, he added.
He sought a direction to the prison authorities to switch over to the digital platform and provide Tamil and infotainment channels.
A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Sathish Kumar, taking up the plea for hearing, directed notice to the Home department and Madurai Central Prison authorities and posted it for further hearing to September 10.
