350 foreigners freed on bail from various detention centres in Assam

GUWAHATI: Altogether 350 foreigners have been released on bail from various detention centres in Assam due to COVID-19 outbreak. This was stated by Minister of State (MoS), Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The Minister gave this information in reply to a question raised by MP (Member of Parliament) Shri Vaiko.

The Minister said, "The Supreme Court of India had passed an order on April 13, 2020 in the 'Suo Moto Writ Petition (Civil) No.1/2020 in RE: CONTAGION OF COVID 19 VIRUS IN PRISONS' directing that the prisoners or detenues who have been under detention for two years shall be entitled to be released subject to fulfillment of the stipulated conditions including furnishing of a bond of Rs 5000 with two sureties of the like sum of Indian citizens.

"In compliance to the order, 350 detenues lodged in different Detention Centres of Assam have been released on bail."

He also informed the House that "15 detenues of different Detention Centres of Assam had died due to illness during last two years till September 16, 2020 while undergoing treatment in various hospitals of the State."

The six Detention Centres in Assam are located at Tezpur, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, and Goalpara.

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