Guwahati: After the Assam Government’s decision to convert the Matia transit camp in Goalpara district, which was meant for “foreigners” only, into a “prison”, the Gauhati High Court on Friday questioned the move.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Saumitra Saikia, said, “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 into a prison?”
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The bench made the remarks while hearing a criminal petition filed in 2020 by an advocate regarding the alleged illegal detention of five people declared as “foreigners” by the foreigners’ tribunal.
The court was further confronted with the ways in which detention camps related to foreigners were being maintained in the state.
Also Read: Assam: Suspended police officer arrested after seizure of unaccounted cash
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
“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 persons who are not convicts or offenders. They may be in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe because of a number of circumstances, but you can’t keep them with ordinary criminals,” the bench stated.
The Matia transit camp became operational in January 2021 with the first batch of 68 inmates being shifted there from another transit camp in Goalpara district jail.
Since February 5 this year, nearly 350 people have reportedly been imprisoned at the Matia transit camp.
Also Read: Manipur: Man gets life imprisonment for killing father
In August 2021, the Assam government announced that detention centres in the state that house “foreigners” would be called “transit camps”.
The decision to convert the transit camp into a prison was taken due to the recent intensive crackdown on child marriages in the state, leading to a space crunch in existing prisons.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently announced that the police would file cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act against men who have married girls below 14 years of age and under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act against persons who married girls aged 14 to 18 years.