Gauhati High Court Flays Assam Govt For Putting Child Marriage Accused In Foreigners 'Transit Camp'

Finding State's decision to be strange and prima facie unacceptable, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Sumitra Saikia remarked,

“If you want to enhance your prison capacity, do it in the place where the prisons are constructed. Why do you need to convert this detention centre in to prison?”

The bench was hearing a criminal petition filed in the year 2020 by an Advocate over alleged illegal detention of 5 persons, declared as 'foreigners', by the Foreigners Tribunal. As the case progressed, the Court was also faced with the manner in which detention camps related to foreigners were maintained in the State.

On Tuesday, the State tried to justify its decision citing under-utilisation of the Transit camp. Matia Transit Camp can house 3,000 persons but presently hardly 200 persons reside in it, Advocate General for the State, D. Saikia submitted. He added that the government has partitioned the detention centre and the proposed jail, purportedly to avoid intermingling.

However, the bench stressed that the State ought to have a separate place. “(You have) built a Centre of this magnitude. You must be thinking of bringing in people from other areas also. So if you start brining ordinary criminals into the facility, you will be compromising …”

It continued, “If you want to do capacity building exercise, you do for the prisons. You can’t encroach upon an institution which is meant only for the persons who are not convicts or offenders. They may be in a wrong place at the wrong time, may be because of number of circumstances but you can’t keep them with ordinary criminals.”

The Chief Justice added that a similar situation is prevailing in Juvenile Justice Homes where 'children in conflict with law' and 'children in need of care and protection' are being housed in the same campus by saying that it has been partitioned.

The bench reminded the State that prison reforms have to be in compliance with Supreme Court's guidelines and the government cannot start "propping up and building" prisons all over the State.

AG said earlier the detainees were being put in prisons but now “it is reversing”. He also sought time to take instructions regarding averments made in the additional affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioners. The matter will now be heard tomorrow.

Case Title: Abantee Dutta v. The Union of India & 4 Ors. W.P. (Crl.)/6/2020 and other related matters

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Gau) 33

Coram: Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Soumitra Saikia

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