HARSH MANDER Vs. UNION OF INDIA (UOI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By order dated 31.10.2018, prayers 'f, 'g' and 'h' made in the writ petition have been indicated to be appropriate for consideration alongwith the pending writ petition(s) i.e. W.P.(C) No. 859/2013 etc. The said prayers, therefore, naturally have to be kept out of purview for the present consideration until the same are heard alongwith the proceedings registered and numbered as W.P.(C) No. 859/2013 etc.

(2.) For the present, the Court is of the view that judicial attention would be required to be focused on two primary issues raised in the present writ petition, namely, (i) the living conditions in detention centres and (ii) justification of the long detention of persons identified to be foreigners or convicted under the Foreigners Act, 1946 pending deportation.

(3.) The materials disclosed in the affidavit of the State of Assam dated 14.2.2019, would indicate that some of the detenues in the detention centres are for over 9 years. The deportation process presently being followed and the erstwhile process, i.e. pushback as disclosed in the affidavit of the State, would require a detailed consideration alongwith the fact as to whether there could be an alternative to housing the declared foreigners in a detention centre, in the first instance, and whether such detention in the detention centre should be the last option. The affidavit filed by the State of Assam does not cover the said issues as the efforts of the State appear to have been and very rightly, centered around answering the queries raised by this Court by the order dated 28.1.2019.