India, Sept. 28 -- The Delhi high court on Monday sought a response from the Tihar Jail authorities on a petition filed by student activist Sharjeel Imam, seeking permission to access research material stored on a pen drive on a computer inside the prison to complete his PhD.

A bench of justice Sanjeev Narula directed the authorities to file a status report and fixed November 2 as the next date of hearing.

In his petition, argued by advocate Ahmed Ibrahim, Imam said he was in the final year of his PhD when he was arrested. He submitted that his PhD synopsis had been approved by the UGC and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and sought access to research material stored on a pen drive on a computer without internet connectivity.

Ibrahim...