A Division Bench of the Gauhati High Court, comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak has instructed the jail authorities to expediently vaccinate jail inmates who are locked inside different jails in the State of Assam, and who are yet not vaccinated for COVID-19.
The Bench held that,
“We hereby issue an interim mandamus directing the concerned authorities to vaccinate the remaining inmates as early as possible.”
Background of the Case
The Court had initiated the suo moto writ petition last year regarding the situation of Covid 19 contagion inside jails situated in the State. The Court had earlier sought the State Government's response on the number of inmates inside Assam Jails who have been infected from Covid 19 and also about the measures taken by the jail authorities for dealing with the issue.
Reasoning and Decision of the Court
The Court perused the list of inmates vaccination provided by the State. The list enumerates that presently 11,398 persons have been locked up in different jails in Assam out of which only 7524 have been vaccinated. It has further been stated that out of these 7524 inmates, only 175 have been fully vaccinated. In fact, close to 4000 inmates are still to be vaccinated.
The learned Additional Senior Government Advocate, Assam has assured this Court that the remaining inmates would be vaccinated most likely within a period of two weeks from today.
Considering all the circumstances, the Court ordered the Jail Authorities to vaccinate all the prisoners at the earliest to provide any discrepancies. Therefore, the Court posted the matter on July 28, 2021.
Case Details
Case: - PIL(Suo Moto)/4/2020
Petitioner -: Suo Motu
Respondent -: State of Assam & Ors.
Judge: Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak
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