The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has denied giving permission to the Tihar jail authorities to give the accused and the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack accused Tahawwur Hussain Rana normal access to communication with his family over the cell phone. People privy to the development said the move was taken on the basis of a report filed by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Delhi Prisons with the special NIA court, where the agency cited security issues and refused to grant a no-objection certificate (NOC).
This was brought up before Special Judge (NIA) Chanderjit Singh, who has now posted the next hearing on August 1. In this hearing, it is assumed that the court will either accept the objections of NIA or approve the request of Rana to be allowed to call her on a monthly basis. Rana is a 64-year-old Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman who is already behind bars at Tihar Jail, and he is being tried for the Mumbai terror attacks that happened in 2008.
Last month, Tahawwur Rana had approached the court via his legal-aid counsel, Piyush Sachdeva, to request the right to be able to make frequent calls home to his family in Canada. Rana pleaded in his argument that such communication can be termed as his basic rights as an undertrial, and it is essential to communicate with his family members to plan his legal tactics.
Probably in June, when Judge Singh had obliged Rana on June 9, to place a one-time call to his family on the condition that it was conducted according to the guidelines of the Tihar manual and the regulations. The court, in addition, required the prison management to indicate its opinion on whether or not it could be permitted to have monthly phone access to the prisoner and any limitations that could be imposed on the situation.
The sensitivity of the case is evident through the objection made by the NIA because Rana is accused of one of the most important terror attacks in India. The ruling that will follow will find out whether such security concerns overrule the request of the undertrial to be in contact with his family.
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