Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has directed Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh to submit detailed affidavits outlining their responses to the issues raised in an inspection report regarding the conditions of central and district jails across these states.
The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Kaushik Goswami, issued the directive during a hearing on December 20, 2024.
The Court said, “Learned counsel representing the States of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh are directed to file their respective comprehensive affidavit addressing all the issues highlighted by the Committee in its inspection report, which is annexed to the affidavit filed on behalf of the Registrar General of the Gauhati High Court on 20.08.2024.”
It further said, “The affidavits shall contain as to what measures the above-referred four States have taken in respect of the recommendations made by the Committee and if those recommendations have not been implemented, then by what time they are going to implement the same.”
The direction was made following an inspection report by a Committee comprising the Member Secretary of the Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons for the Guwahati and Jorhat ranges.
The Committee conducted inspections of different central and district jails in Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The report highlighted that overall the conditions in the jails across these states were unsatisfactory and included several recommendations for improvements.
The inspection report, annexed to an affidavit filed by the Registrar General of the Gauhati HC on August 20, 2024, found the conditions in the jails in all four states to be largely “unsatisfactory.”
The Committee had made certain recommendations for improvement in its report.
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However, the Court noted that the four states had failed to respond to the affidavit filed by the Registrar General, prompting the Court’s direction for the states to file their respective affidavits addressing the concerns raised in the inspection report.
The matter has been scheduled for further hearing on January 29, 2025.
