Image Courtesy:thewire.in
The Gauhati High Court has granted 45 days time to the state government to complete the construction of a detention centre in Matia, Goalpara and to move the detainees there. The Advocate General, D Saikia informed the bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana that currently there are about 177 detainees in the six make-shift detention centres across the state.
The petitioner pointed to the affidavit filed by the Assam government which stated that the construction of detention centre at Matia, Goalpara would be completed by September, 2021. The Advocate General responded that even though expeditious steps are being taken to complete the construction in 1 month, as a matter of abundant caution, he sought 6 weeks’ time to complete the same.
The court was dealing with petitions filed by Santhanu Borthakur, Abantee Duttaa, and Dipika Sarkar raising the issue of detention centres and how they are being operated.
In the affidavit submitted in April, it was stated that there are 333 detainees across all detention camps in the state but during this hearing, the Advocate General submitted that there are about 177 detainees lodged in detention centres.
The court granted 45 days time to the state to complete construction of the detention centre at Matia and directed to file an updated status report at the end of this period. The matter will next be heard on September 30.
On August 17, the Government of Assam, issued a notification saying that henceforth detention camps in the state will be known as “Transit Camps” for detention purpose.
At present there are six detention camps operating out of makeshift facilities in six district prisons in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Tezpur and Jorhat. SabrangIndia’s sister organization Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has been working to secure the release of eligible detainees from these detention camps, which have a shocking track record of inexplicable deaths of inmates.
Last year, CJP had accessed the list of people who have died in detention camps and have discovered that Goalpara detention camp has proved to be the deadliest and leads the list with ten dead inmates. The Tezpur facility follows closely with nine dead inmates. Meanwhile, three people died in at the Silchar detention camp in Cachar district, two people including one woman died in the Kokrajhar detention camp, and one person died in the Jorhat detention camp. The dead include 14 Muslims, 10 Hindus and one member of the Tea Tribes.
CJP has been helping these detainees secure release from such detention camps in accordance with two successive Supreme Court judgments, one from May 2019 and another from April 2020, and a subsequent order of the Guwahati High Court. The courts were trying to decongest these facilities amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. We have helped at least 44 people go back home to their families so far with more people likely to be released in the coming weeks.
The high court order may be read here:
Related:
Dead man declared foreigner, Gauhati HC sets aside order
Hell, by any other name…
22 children of foreign nationals living in Assam Detention Camps!