Elgar Parishad case: Teltumbde's wife moves HC, accuses jail official of withholding letters

The wife of Anand Teltumbde an accused in the Elgar ParishadMaoist links case has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court alleging that the Taloja prison superintendent was deliberately withholding or belatedly posting letters and communication written by her husband to kin and lawyersRama Teltumbde in her plea filed through advocate R Satyanarayan said the prison superintendent was committing such acts since March this year after an article written by her husband on the Union governments plan to privatize some public sector enterprises was published in the Caravan magazineHer plea claimed the jail superintendent was not posting letters written by Teltumbde nor was correspondence marked to her husband being delivered which she said was a malicious and inhuman act The plea claimed the superintendent was doing the same with letters and correspondences of Teltumbdes coaccused in the case who are lodged in Taloja jailThe plea was filed last week and was heard by a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar for the first time on SaturdayAlso read Bombay High Court extends Stan Swamys stay at private hospital till July 6Advocate Satyanarayan told the bench that Teltumbdes wife and lawyers had not received any communication from him since March this yearIn her plea Rama Teltumbde said that after the said article was published on March 10 this year the jail superintendent served a samaj patra a sort of show cause notice to the arrested activist who replied that the article had no relation to the Elgar Parishad case and therefore it did not breach any lawIn his reply to the samaj patra Teltumbde also said the article was not part of political propaganda nor did it comment on the prison administrationThe plea said Teltumbde sought a copy of the samaj patra and his reply to it but the request was turned down by prison authoritiesRama Teltumbde said she and her husbands lawyers as well as coaccused had written several letters to the jail superintendent but had not received replies which forced her to file an RTI application seeking a copy of the samaj patra and the arrested activists reply to itHer plea said the superintendent was acting in gross violation of his official position and duties adding that all prison inmates have statutory and fundamental rights that enable them to exchange letters communicate with family friends and lawyersShe urged HC to direct the superintendent to allow Teltumbde and his coaccused to write to and receive letters from family and lawyers and also sought an inquiry against the official for his actionOn Saturday NIA counsel Sandesh Patil told the court he was yet to receive a copy of the plea after which the HC directed advocate Satyanarayan to serve the copies to the NIA and the stateSusan Abraham wife of Teltumbdes coaccused Vernon Gonsalves is a copetitioner and has also claimed that communication to and from her husband was withheld by the jail superintendentThe court is likely to hear the plea further on July 6This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever