GUWAHATI, Sept 16: The Gauhati High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of serious health and prison-administration concerns in Assam’s jails, including HIV infections, overcrowding, inadequate mental healthcare, suicides and delays in processing remission applications.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury directed the Assam government to file a detailed affidavit outlining measures already taken and proposed to address the concerns. The matter will be heard next on October 8, 2026.
The suo motu proceedings followed reports on conditions at Guwahati Central Jail, including the detection of HIV-positive inmates. Reports placed before the court said 38 inmates, including five women, had tested positive for HIV. The court noted that the precise mode of transmission had not been established, while some cases involved suspected sharing of infected needles. The inmates were receiving antiretroviral therapy at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
An inspection by the Assam State Legal Services Authority also highlighted severe overcrowding in several jails. In some facilities, 42 to 45 prisoners were reportedly confined to a single small room with one toilet. The situation was particularly acute in the district jails of Nalbari, Dhubri, Hailakandi and Sribhumi.
The court also flagged inadequate psychiatric care and irregular visits by psychiatrists. It took note of three suicides in Nalbari District Jail and similar incidents in Udalguri jail. Court records indicated that 27 cases of unnatural deaths and suicides had been reported in Assam prisons over the past five years.
A separate inspection on August 2 found 1,672 inmates, including 77 women, housed at Guwahati Central Jail against a sanctioned capacity of 1,400. The report recorded 31 HIV-positive inmates, including two women, one prisoner with tuberculosis and 19 undergoing psychiatric treatment.
The Bench also expressed concern over delays in remission applications by life convicts, with some applications reportedly pending before the Remission Board for two to three years. Minutes of a State Legal Review Board meeting showed that 32 remission proposals made in 2025 had been returned, while only one of 58 cases involving life imprisonment had been approved.
The court directed the departments concerned to detail remedial measures in their affidavit. Additional Advocates General P N Goswami and B Gogoi were asked to place the government’s response before the Bench.
Earlier reports had said 226 inmates across 31 Assam jails tested positive for HIV between April and July 2026, with officials attributing nearly 95 per cent of the cases to injecting-drug-use-related factors rather than establishing transmission inside prisons.
