JUDGMENT

Hansaria, J.-This writ petition has its origin in a letter dated 12.4.1984 by a prisoner of Central Jail, Bangalore (one Rama Murthy) to the Hon ble Chief Justice of this Court making grievance about some jail matters. The letter was ordered to be treated as a writ petition and court proceedings followed which are being wound up by delivering this judgment.

2. The epistolatory power had been invoked earlier also in a similar matter when Sunil Batra had written a letter to a Hon ble Judge of this Court from Tihar Jail, Delhi. The judgments in his cases and that of Charles Sobraj are such which can be said to be beacon lights insofar as management of jails and rights of prisoners are concerned. This Court in these judgments [(1) Charles Sobraj v. Superintendent Central Jail, Tihar1 (2) Sunil Batra (I) v. Delhi Administration and Ors.2 and (3) Sunil Batra (II) v. Delhi Administration3], on being approached either through formal writ petitions or by addressing letter, which was treated as a writ petition, has laid bare the constitutional dimension and rights available to a person behind stone walls and iron bars.

3. These are not the only decisions on the q