As many as 500 people in detention centres across Assam are in need of legal aid, while around 225 need medical attention, a review committee appointed by Assam government is learnt to have recommended in its report.
The committee is learnt to have also suggested that the foreigners in detention not be kept in prisons but in exclusive facilities, officials said.
“The report was submitted last week of January. Among other things, it recommended legal aid for around 500 persons and medical help for more than 220 people,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
In October, two persons under detention died at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. The family of one of them, Dulal Chandra Paul, a 65-year-old from Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district had refused to accept the body for a few days. They had demanded that Paul be declared an Indian citizen first or his body be sent to Bangladesh since the states’ Foreigners Tribunal declared him belonging to the neighbouring country.
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Nityanand Rai, Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, told Parliament in November 2019 that from 2016 to October 30, 2019, 28 persons died either in detention centres or in hospitals where they were referred to. Naresh Koch, a daily wager lodged in Goalpara detention centre, died in January.
Meanwhile, stung by criticism and protest, the state government had swung into action and constituted a committee on October 25 headed by D Mukherjee, deputy inspector general of police posted in the Border Organisation.
“The committee will visit all detention centres in the state and review the legal aid status and health status of each detainee and provide recommendation for improvement, if needed,” a statement issued by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s office said on October 25 after the constitution of the committee.
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The official quoted above said that the committee visited all six temporary detention centres working out of jails in Goalpara, Tezpur, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Silchar. The committee worked with a specialised mobile application in which all the data collected during its various field visits was fed.
The committee met 996 persons, including 34 children and 290 women, in the detention centres. “The committee has given around 15 suggestions for improving the educational facilities for children and around 25 suggestions for taking care of health concerns,” the official said.
The official said around 260 people in detention were found to be healthy.
A second official said one of the recommendations of the committee include that the children who are imparted education informally in the prison be issued some kind of a certificate which helps them getting admission in a proper school outside. He said the committee has recommended that the detention centres be moved out of prisons. “A new detention centre is coming up in Matia. It will be better if these people are kept there and not in prisons,” the official said.
Construction is on in full swing to complete the detention centre in Matia which has a capacity to house 3000 persons. The centre will have a hospital and a school among other facilities in its 20 bigha campus.
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Those lodged in the six detention facilities are likely to be moved to the exclusive facility in Matia once it’s complete.
The first official said the committee studied all aspects of the detention centres including cooking, quality and storage of food, water facilities, power supply, upkeep of utensils, condition of toilets and bathrooms and so on.
The team visited these detention centres with experts including doctors, food safety officials, officials from the building department of the Public Works Department and secretary of the District Legal Service Authority among others.
On December 10, the Ministry of Home Affairs in a parliamentary question said, there were 181 declared foreigners who have completed three years or more in detention suggesting that many have been not been able to fulfil the bail conditions in the May 2019 order of the Supreme Court and may be in need of legal assistance. Home Ministry, in its response also mentioned that 128 persons have been released based on the SC order.
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The Supreme Court bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had said that those in detention for more than three years may be released if they fulfil certain conditions including submission of biometrics, two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each, verifiable address, weekly visit to the nearest police station among others.
Mukherjee, who headed the review committee, refused to comment.
