Access of foreign journalists to prisons to be curtailed

Access of foreign journalists and filmmakers to Indian prisons will soon be curtailed as the government has decided to revisit the rules in this regard.

Minister of State for Home, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary, said in Rajya Sabha that an advisory was issued on December 6, 2012, by the government to regulate access of foreign journalists and other agencies to prisons in the country.

"In order to ensure that only genuine interactions take place in the future, the Ministry of Home Affairs is in the process of revising the guidelines in this regard," he said in reply to a written question.

A documentary, 'India's Daughter', produced by a British filmmaker had created a huge controversy a few months ago as it contained an interview -- allowed under the existing guidelines -- of a death-row convict in the December 16, 2012, gangrape case in Delhi, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail.