Shillong, Sep 9: There are numerous foreign nationals still incarcerated in Meghalaya prisons long after their sentences have been completed, the Meghalaya High Court has found, with one Myanmar national still languishing in the Shillong District Jail 10 years after the end of his prison term.
Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said that the court “cannot countenance persons being incarcerated in jail, despite having completed their sentence,” and added that the Supreme Court has, in the past, called such detention illegal and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
The two-judge bench also found that the Additional Advocate General (AAG) of Meghalaya, K Khan, had given “false and incorrect” information to the court when he informed during yesterday’s hearing that there was only one Bangladeshi national who had completed his period of sentence but continued to remain in prison for more than a year.
In fact, when the court visited Shillong District Jail to see the conditions of prisoners, apart from verifying whether they were receiving requisite facilities as well as legal aid, it found 17 foreigners – 15 from Bangladesh, one from Myanmar and one from Nigeria – who were in jail despite having served their entire sentence.
The inmate from Myanmar has been in prison for more than 10 years after the completion of his sentence. One Bangladeshi national has been in jail for more than four years, despite having completed his sentence and the others range between six months to a couple of years.
In addition, during the course of the hearing, Yangi B, the Amicus Curiae, informed the court that during her prison visit she found four prisoners lodged in Williamnagar jail, three in Tura jail and four in Nongpoh jail who had all completed their sentence. She was, however, unsure whether they were foreign nationals or Indian citizens.
The plight of these prisoners could so easily have been overlooked. Indeed, the High Court came to know about them through a different route, when it was hearing a suo motu petition to ascertain whether prisons in Meghalaya were overcrowded. The Supreme Court had passed judgement in the Suhas Chakma v. Union of India & ors case, which dealt with prison overcrowding. The apex court thought it fit that the respective states take note of certain factors so as to ensure implementation of the said judgement.
Why these foreigners are still in jail despite having served out their sentences is because Meghalaya has no detention centres to lodge them in while they await deportation.
In the case of the Bangladeshi national cited by the AAG in yesterday’s hearing, the Bangladesh authorities are still verifying his nationality. This was not satisfactory to the court.
“Just because no response is received from the [Assistant High] Commissioner is not a justification to keep someone beyond the prison term,” the court observed yesterday. “It may take months/years for the prison authorities to get a response from the Bangladesh Assistant High Commissioner, however, that does not mean that the prisoner has to continue languishing in jail despite having completed his sentence.”
Detaining the Bangladeshi national in this case “beyond his sentence period amounts to illegal detention of the said national,” the court stated. It added today that it will consider the question of compensation “at an appropriate stage” for all those who have been kept in prison beyond their sentence.
The judges summoned the Commissioner and Secretary of the Police Department, the Commissioner and Secretary of Prisons and Correctional Services, the Inspector General of Prisons and a senior officer from the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) Shillong to be present in court tomorrow.
The AAG was also to answer how much time it would take for a detention centre to be designated until a proper one is established.
