Tihar jail officials allow Punjab CM to meet Kejriwal as normal visitor in mulakat jangla

PTI, Apr 4, 2024, 5:02 PM IST

Representative image (Source: PTI)

New Delhi: A day after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote to the Tihar administration seeking a meeting with jailed AAP head Arvind Kejriwal in the prisons, the authorities said he can meet his Delhi counterpart, but as a normal visitor in the ‘mulakat jangla’.

The ‘mulakat jangla’ is an iron mesh which separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on different sides of the mesh.

The officials of the Tihar jail, while confirming the letter from the Punjab chief minister’s office (CMO) to Tihar Director General Sanjay Baniwal, said the reply will be given “soon” to Mann’s office.

“Mann can meet Kejriwal but it can happen as a normal visitor meet in the ‘mulakat jangla’ in Tihar jail. The officials can make security arrangements as Mann is a chief minister and enjoys Z+ security cover,” an officer, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

He said the letter from the Punjab CMO has sought time and asked the Tihar adminstration to make necessary arrangements for their meeting in the prison premises.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Kejriwal, who was sent to Tihar Jail after a court remanded him to judicial custody in the excise policy case on April 1, has been lodged in jail number 2.

The Delhi chief minister has given five names — including his wife, two children, his personal secretary Bibhav Kumar and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak — whom he can meet in the jail.

The officer said Kejriwal will have to add one more name of Mann in the list of visitors. According to the jail manual, an inmate can give 10 names of visitors. Three of them can meet at one time, twice a week.

On April 2, the AAP chief talked to wife and children via video conference from the prisons. He has been meeting his lawyer daily in the jail.