Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court (HC) has taken suo moto cognisance of serious public health and prison-administration problems in Assam’s jails and directed the departments concerned to file a detailed affidavit delineating the course of action contemplated or taken in this regard by the next date of hearing fixed for October 8, 2026.
The division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury observed that this suo moto writ petition (WP(C)(Suo Moto)/3/2026) has been registered by the Gauhati High Court at the direction of the Chief Justice on the administrative side. The reason given for taking up the suo moto writ petition is a news report highlighting the serious public health and prison-administration problems in the jails in Assam, particularly in the Guwahati Central Jail.
On August 26, 2026, “The Sentinel” reported that 38 inmates of the Guwahati Central Jail, of which 5 are women, had tested HIV positive, and many of those inmates had been facing cases under the NDPS Act and are known drug users. The exact mode of transmission of the disease could not be confirmed immediately, but sharing infected needles was suspected to be the likely cause in several cases. Infections were detected during the testing done by the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre, working under the Assam State AIDS Control Society. The court also noted that all those 38 inmates had been receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.
The jail inspection report submitted by the Member Secretary of the Assam State Legal Services Authority also reflects a grim picture of prison conditions across the state of Assam. During his recent visits to almost all the jails in the state, the Member Secretary found severe overcrowding among the inmates. Some jails housed 42-45 prisoners in a cramped room with only one toilet. The situation was found to be very acute in the district jails of Nalbari, Dhubri, Hailakandi and Sribhumi. In Sivasagar and Dhubri district jails, which also suffer from overcrowding, the inmates from other states complained that they are not allowed access to mobile phones for contacting their families, and also no alternative communication facility was ever provided to them.
The bench also noted in the report that mental healthcare was entirely ignored in all such jails; rather, it was non-existent. Many of the inmates displayed signs of psychological disorders. Inmates also complained about the psychiatrist’s irregular visits to the jails. In fact, in the Nalbari District Jail, three convicts had committed suicide in the past. Very recently, some instances have also occurred in Udalguri District Jail. In the past five years, jails in Assam have reported 27 cases of unnatural deaths and suicides.
Another disconcerting fact reflected in the report of the Member Secretary is that there were complaints from the life convicts that their remission applications have been pending before the Remission Board for the last 2/3 years, without adverting to them. The minutes of the State Legal Review Board meeting, held on March 19, 2026, showed that 32 remission proposals made in the year 2025 were returned and, out of 58 life imprisonment cases, only one was approved.
The bench also mentioned that the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (M), had made an independent inspection of the Central Jail, Guwahati, on August 2, 2026, and he also reported overcrowding among jail inmates. Against a registered capacity of 1,400 inmates, the jail had 1,672 prisoners on the date of the inspection, out of whom 77 were women. His report also indicates that in the Central Jail, Guwahati, there are 31 HIV-positive inmates, which includes 2 women prisoners, one TB patient and 19 prisoners under psychiatric treatment. “While some facilities were reported to be functional, the overall picture suggests a grim state of affairs. This has to be addressed on an emergency basis,” the bench stated.
Therefore, the bench requested P. N. Goswami and B. Gogoi, both Additional Advocate Generals of Assam, who represent various departments concerned with jail administration and health, to look into the matter and file a detailed affidavit delineating the course of action contemplated or action taken in this regard. The Court informed the Additional Advocate Generals about the urgent need to address these issues. The court adjourned the matter to October 8, 2026, while awaiting a detailed response from the concerned departments, including those of jail administration and health.
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