2G scam accused wants iPad, cooler in Tihar

Asif Balwa, one of the 2G scam accused, on Tuesday threw a googly at the age-old jail manual and authorities, demanding that he be allowed to take an iPad into his cell. His argument – he needed the gadget as, given the voluminous chargesheet running into thousands of pages, he could prepare his response only electronically -- led the High Court to issue a notice to the government.

The government is to reply on Wednesday if the younger Balwa can be allowed to take the latest technology fad. The jail manual, that provides for what is permitted and prohibited inside prison, was written in 1988 and last amended in 2000, almost a decade before Apple's breakthrough product hit the market.

Making his plea before the HC, Balwa's counsel argued that he needed the iPad to prepare his defence against the voluminous chargesheet filed by CBI in the case. The counsel pointed out that there were over 80,000 pages including annexures to be read up in the two chargesheets filed until now.

When the petition came up for hearing before Justice S Muralidhar on Tuesday, he saw enough merit to issue notice and gave a day's time to the government to come up with its objections if any. The court ignored Balwa's two other pleas -- for home cooked food and a cooler in his ward -- while issuing notice.

While the counsel for the government disagreed with Balwa's plea citing the jail manual, Justice Muralidhar reminded him that the manual was written when there were no iPads and wondered why an accused should not be allowed to prepare his defence electronically if pages could be converted into PDF format.

Appearing for Balwa, advocate Gurpreet Singh pointed out that even in courts, e-filing was now accepted with lawyers and judges relying on electronic format to conduct judicial work and said absence of such a facility for his client violated his right to fair trial as it hampered preparation of his defence.

"The prosecution has relied upon the chargesheet and documents above 80,000 pages and it isn't feasible for the applicant to take these many pages with him in judicial custody and make notes for briefing his counsel and again in the morning carry the same pages to the courtroom. Using the same in digitized format in iPad is convenient and applicant can prepare his defence efficiently," the petition argued.

Allaying fears the gadget may prove to be a handful for jail authorities, with Balwa being able to access internet on it, the petition explained that Tihar jail was not Wi-Fi enabled and ruled out the possibility of misusing internet services because his iPad could access it only through Wi-Fi.

The corporate executive has been arrested for his role in facilitating the transfer of Rs 200 crore to DMK-owned television channel Kalaignar TV through his firm in a circuitous manner.