Crl. Misc. No. M-9228 of 2011 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-9228 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision:- 27.04.2011 Sanjeev Kumar and another ...Petitioners Versus State of Haryana and another ...Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present:- Mr. Navkiran Singh, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Kshitij Sharma, AAG, Haryana RITU BAHRI J.(Oral) The petitioners are husband and wife and they have been convicted on the allegations of killing the family members of Sonia, petitioner No. 2. Their conviction to death penalty has also been upheld by Hon'ble the Supreme Court of India. The petitioners have sought direction to respondent No. 2 to permit meeting of the petitioners with each other as per the Chapter XVI (b) Interviews and Communications of Punjab Jail Manual. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioners have been detained in solitary confinement since 27.5.2004. They were only allowed to come out of their cells for half an hour twice a day. Reference has been made to Punjab Jail Manual in para 549 and the subsequent paras which provides for the manner in which a convicted prisoner is allowed to be interviewed and communicated with his friends and relatives. However as per the jail manual, male and female prisoners are to be segregated and cannot be together. He has further argued that Hon'ble Supreme Court in Sunil Batra case has held that even incarceration, the prisoners do not loose their fundamental rights to meet. Article 21 of Crl. Misc. No. M-9228 of 2011 (O&M) -2- Constitution of India enshrines every citizen, may in jail a protection of their fundamental rights, though in a restrained manner. On notice, a reply has been filed by Superintendent Jail, in which it has been stated that the mercy of petitioners is pending with her Excelency President of India. The petitioner No. 1 has committed 02 jail offences and petitioner No. 2 has committed 08 jail offences till date. Both the petitioners are facing a case in F.I.R No. 264 dated 24.10.2008 u/s 224, 34, 120-B IPC, P.S Baldev Nagar in the learned Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Ambala as the petitioners had tried to dig a tunnel inside the jail for escaping from the jail. Petitioner No. 2 had committed a jail offence of misbehaving with the Senior officer of the jail and threatening of this jail for which the superintendent of jail had punished her by stopping her meeting with her husband and kept her in cell ward on 14.07.2010. This punishment has also been approved by learned Sessions Judge, Ambala vide order dated 02.08.2010 (Annexure R-1) After observing a change in the behaviour of petitioner No. 2, she was allowed to meet with her husband on 04.03.2011 by respondent No. 2 and now both the petitioners are allowed to meet each other on every Tuesday, the day prescribed for the internal meeting of the prisoners. In view of the reply filed by respondent No. 2, no further orders are required to be passed in the present petition. Accordingly, the petition is disposed of. April 27, 2011 ( RITU BAHRI ) G.Arora JUDGE