GUWAHATI, Dec 30: The Gauhati High Court has directed the states of Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh to file comprehensive affidavits addressing concerns raised in an inspection report regarding the conditions of central and district jails across these states. The court issued this directive during a hearing on December 20, 2024, with a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Kaushik Goswami.

The directive follows an inspection report submitted by a Committee, which included the Member Secretary of the Assam State Legal Services Authority and the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons for Guwahati and Jorhat ranges. The Committee had conducted inspections of various central and district jails in Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh.

The report, which was annexed to an affidavit filed by the Registrar General of the Gauhati High Court on August 20, 2024, highlighted that the conditions in the jails of all four states were largely “unsatisfactory.” The Committee made several recommendations for improving jail conditions. However, the court observed that none of the four states had responded to the affidavit filed by the Registrar General.

In light of this, the court instructed the counsel representing the states to file affidavits detailing the actions taken to address the issues raised in the report. The affidavits should specify what measures have been implemented based on the Committee’s recommendations, and if any recommendations remain unaddressed, the states must provide a timeline for their implementation.

The court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on January 29, 2025, and requested all four states to submit their affidavits by that time.