Notice to Haryana over Honeypreet's plea

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday issued notice to the Ambala jail superintendent jail on a plea filed by rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's adopted daughter Honeypreet, seeking directions to provide calling facility inside the jail premises.
Honeypreet alias Priyanka Taneja has been confined in the Ambala jail since October 3, 2017 for her role in the Panchkula violence after Gurmeet's conviction and related cases.
She has approached the HC against the October 29 orders through which her application for providing her prison inmate calling system facility was declined.
According to Honeypreet, in view of various jail reforms, prison inmate calling system (PICS) facility was introduced in jails throughout the country, including Haryana.
According to the system, every prisoner lodged in the prison is allowed to hold telephonic conversation with family members and friends for five minutes every day.
Honeypreet's counsel, Jasdev Singh Mehndiratta argued that the director general of prisons, Haryana, had also issued directions for providing the PICS facility after verification of phone numbers provided by the prisoners. The phone numbers provided by the prisoners are verified and thereafter this facility is provided for making calls only on the verified numbers. The records of the said calls are also stored by the authorities.
According to Mehndiratta, the petitioner had requested a PICS facility and phone numbers provided by her were sent for verification. However, the superintendent of police (SP), Sirsa, sent a report on January 25, stating that the said facility not be provided to her as a number of cases relating to violence, which had erupted after conviction of the DSS chief are pending in Sirsa district.
It was also stated that a large number of people are yet to be arrested and providing PICS facility to the petitioner may endanger peace, counsel told the HC.After hearing her contentions, the HC has asked the Haryana government as well as the superintendent of Ambala jail to file reply on December 11 on the issue.