'A first step': USCIRF welcomes Supreme Court's decision on Assam detention centres

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Tuesday (local time) welcomed the decision of India's Supreme Court to relax conditions for the release of individuals detained as "foreigners" in Assam's detention centres due to concerns with the spread of the Coronavirus.

'We urge the Indian SC to continue on its promising path...'

"We welcome this decision as a first step," a statement by USCIRF quoted its Chair Tony Perkins as saying. "We urge the Indian Supreme Court to continue on this promising path and order the release of all those detained in the detention centres on humanitarian grounds. Even two years as a minimum time for release is unreasonable given the threat of detention centres becoming a breeding ground for the spread of COVID-19," he added.

In response to an application submitted by the Justice for Liberty Initiative, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the release of detainees held for at least two years and lowered the personal bond amount necessary to secure release from Rs 100,000 to 5,000. 

A bench led by the Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice L.N. Rao and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar was hearing the intervention application filed by Justice for Liberty Initiative, Assam based Charitable Trust, praying that the period of three years be reduced to one year so that detenues who have completed more than two years may be released.

During the hearing, Attorney General KK Venugopal objected to their release apprehending that they would infect people in villages or where ever they go after their release. Advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for the applicant, informed the court that the apprehension of the Attorney General was based on an unfounded premise that every such person was already infected by the virus.

The bench observed that the very purpose of framing of guidelines and the release of persons was to prevent these prisons and detention centres from becoming a hotspot of infection. Alam also contended that the two-year period be dispensed with or further reduced on account of the unprecedented pandemic situation.

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The bench observed however that at this stage it would release only those who have spent two years or more in the detention and for further reduction it would consider later.

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Referring to the orders of the apex court passed on March 16, the plea filed through advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, said that the court has in the present matter already taken a bold and decisive step towards ensuring that prisons do not become breeding grounds of COVID-19 and has ordered a high powered committee to come up with modalities of releasing prisoners on parole.

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“That in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, there are about 802 detenues in detention centres in Assam who are now more vulnerable in the already overcrowded detention centres with deplorable living conditions, and with no parole being made available to them,” the plea said.

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(with PTI inputs)