Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi for legal opinion on condition of detention camp

GUWAHATI: Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi today asked the state government to seek legal opinion regarding the alleged inhuman conditions at the detention camps for illegal immigrants.

"You take legal opinion and see if there is any scope of any review. If there is, then please do it," Gogoi said after members cutting across political lines raised the issue after the question hour.

He turned down the demand by All India United Democratic Front that a house committee visit the camps and said: "The Assembly has no role in it", he said.

Earlier, the issue was raised Congress MLAs Ardhendu Kumar Dey, Siddeque Ahmed and Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, AIUDF members Abdur Rahim Khan and Rafiqul Islam, AGP MLA Bhupen Roy and BJP legislator Dilip Kumar Paul.

In his reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rockybul Hussain said the government will look into the living conditions in the detention camps.

"The government should file a case in the Supreme Court requesting that there should be no harassment until the ongoing update exercise of NRC is complete," Ahmed said.

On this, the speaker suggested the government seek legal opinion.

After the matter settled down, Congress' Ardhendu Kumar Dey again raised the same issue just after zero hour.

He was joined by all AIUDF MLAs, leading to a noisy scene and disrupted the functioning of the house.

The Minister said, "The government will do more than what you are demanding. Do not politicise the issue unnecessarily".

The minister also asked the AIUDF MLAs why they were not filing a case in the Supreme Court on the issue.