Ban construction on jail land by 'outside agency', court tells IGP

GUWAHATI, March 6: The Gauhati High Court on February 28, directed the State's Inspector General of Prisons (IGP) not to allow any construction work on jail land of various jails of the State by any 'outside agency', besides asking the IGP and other authorities not to make any further allotment of land to any person out of the land belonging to the jails of the State. The Court directives, issued by the division bench of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice AH Saikia, came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition moved by a city-based businessman Bijoyananda Choudhury. Choudhury, in his petition, prayed for judicial intervention in matters of safeguarding the rights of the prisoners of the State jails, proper maintenance of the jails and lock-ups in the State in regard to food, hygiene, sanitation and other basic amenities for the prisoners, examination of the existing prison welfare services, construction of a central jail at Guwahati with all facilities, delay in implementation of the Jails Reform Commission recommendation even after two decades and allotment of jail plots to the outside agencies, among others. Choudhury alleged that though the Assam Jail Reforms Committee, 1979-1980, suggested spacious arrangements for lodging the prisoners, besides proper sanitation and water supply systems in Dhubri Jail, till date none of the recommendations has been implemented. To aggravate the problem of congestion, the Dhubri Municipality has forcibly occupied some of the jail land for the Dhubri Bus Stand.