Judgment

RANGANATH MISRA, J.-Petitioner is a Bombay-based freelance journalist who had sought permission to interview women prisoners in the Maharashtra jails and on May 6, 1982, the Inspector General of Prisons of the State permitted her to do so in respect of female prisoners lodged in the Bombay Central Jail, the Yerawada Central Jail at Pune and the Kolhapur District Jail. When the petitioner started tape-recording her interviews with the prisoners at the Bombay Central Jail, she was advised instead to keep notes only of interviews. When the petitioner raised objection on this score, the Inspector General of Prisons orally indicated that he had changed his mind. Later, the petitioner was informed that grant of permission to have interview was a matter of discretion of the Inspector General and such interviews are ordinarily allowed to research scholars only. Petitioner has made grievance over the withdrawal of the permission and has pleaded that it is the citizens right to know if government is administering the jails in accordance with law. Petitioners letter was treated as a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

2. Return has been made to the rule nisi and the In