Gauhati High Court Directs Jail Authorities To Vaccinate Remaining Inmates In Assam Jails As Early As Possible

The Gauhati High Court has directed the jail authorities to vaccinate inmates, who are remaining for covid 19 vaccination locked inside different jails in the State of Assam, as early as possible.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak took note of the list highlighting the vaccination details of 11,398 persons locked up in the jails.

According to the said list, it was stated that out of the total prison inmates, only 7524 had been vaccinated. Furthermore, it was stated that out of 7524 inmates, only 175 have been fully vaccinated.

Noting that close to 4000 inmates are yet to be vaccinated, the Court directed thus:

"We hereby issue an interim mandamus directing the concerned authorities to vaccinate the remaining inmates as early as possible."

At this juncture, the State Government assured the Court that the remaining inmates would be vaccinated within a period of two weeks.

Accordingly, the Court listed the matter on July 28.

The Court had revived the suo moto writ petition instituted last year regarding the situation of covid 19 contagion inside jails situated in the State.

The Court had earlier sought State Government's response on the number of inmates inside Assam Jails who have been infected from Covid 19 and also about the measures undertaken by the jail authorities for dealing with the issue.

The High Court had vide order dated 23rd July 2020 registered the suo moto petition in view of the repeatedly reported number of Covid-19 positive cases detected inside the jails in Assam.

The High Court had then directed the Inspector General of Prisons, Assam to state details about the number of Covid-19 positive detected in each of the jails, precautions taken before the inmates were detected Covid-19 positive and the steps being taken for disinfecting the jails and giving treatment to the jail inmates.

Reviving the aforesaid suo moto petition on April 29, the High Court had directed the State Government to file new data on record in view of the second Covid wave and covid positive cases inside the jails.

Title: PIL(Suo Moto)/4/2020

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