NEW DELHI, Jan 28 - The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Assam government to submit details of total number of detention centres in the State and the inmates lodged there.
The Supreme Court�s order came in response to a petition filed by human rights activist Harsh Mander. He had submitted a report to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the condition of detention centres in Assam and its inmates, mostly detained �D� voters.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Government of Assam to furnish the period from which the inmates have been lodged in the detention centres.
The court also directed the government to provide details on �whether all the inmates lodged in such detention centres have been declared as foreigners or not, and there are any inmates whose applications before the foreign tribunal are pending.�
The Assam government has also been directed to give details of how many inmates have been deported and what has been the State�s success rate. The Assam government has been given three weeks� time to file an affidavit with the details.
The court said that the affidavit should contain information as to how many inmates have been declared as foreigners by the tribunals in the last decade. �Year-wise break-up needs to be furnished by the Centre,� the court said.
Hearing the case, the court observed that �If the inmates have not been accepted by a foreign country despite being declared foreigners then they cannot remain under detention.�
The case has been listed for further hearing on February 19.
In his PIL, Mander questioned the keeping of people in Assam�s detention centres for an indefinite period on suspicion of being foreigners. He claimed that keeping people in detention for years was illegal and also a violation of human rights.
