Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Saturday claimed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not being allowed in-person meetings with his family in Tihar jail.
Addressing a press conference, Singh said, "There is an attempt to break the morale of CM Kejriwal.
"His family has not been allowed in-person meetings with him. They are only allowed to meet him through the jangla. This is inhuman. Even hardcore criminals are allowed in-person meetings," the AAP leader said.
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.
"In the same Tihar jail, many meetings take place but Arvind Kejriwal, a three-time elected chief minister, is being humiliated and made to meet his family through the jangla. This is happening at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government," Singh said.
"His rights as an inmate are being snatched," said the AAP leader, who was granted bail by the Supreme Court earlier this month after spending over six months in jail in the Delhi excise policy case.
There was no immediate reaction from the Tihar administration.
Kejriwal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam. He is in judicial custody till April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
On Friday, the jail authorities scheduled Kejriwal's meeting with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann for April 15, saying that he can meet the AAP convener, but as a normal visitor in the 'mulakat jangla'.
The chief minister met his wife Sunita Kejriwal and personal secretary Bibhav Kumar inside Tihar Jail on Tuesday.
Singh also alleged that the jail administration, after issuing a token to him for meeting Kejriwal, cancelled it citing security reasons.
Now, only Bhagwant Mann will meet him, he said.
Singh hit out at the Modi government saying people will respond to its "tyranny and atrocities" with votes in the elections.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back saying Singh should “have knowledge about the jail manual as he came out recently after spending months there”.
He said as per jail manual rule 602, inmates and their visitors are seated across a screen. Kejriwal is meeting those who want to meet and is even sending messages through them.
Maybe there is some message for Singh if he is not able to meet the Delhi Kejriwal, Sachdeva said.
The inmates in a jail are managed through the manual prepared by the government. Only courts can allow any special permissions to the inmates and Kejriwal is even having home cooked food in the jail, he added.
