Assam Assembly likely to have detention room for ‘unruly’ MLAs

Assam is likely to have a detention room for MLAs who are suspended for disrupting the Assembly proceedings.

Speaker Biswajit Daimary on Friday (November 28, 2025) said the House would examine a proposal from Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Bora for a detention room to keep unruly MLAs temporarily.

Mr. Bora sought a disciplinary detention space within the House complex to prevent ‘repeated disturbances’ by some MLAs. The proposal followed disruptions caused by Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi, who was suspended from the House during the Question Hour.

“Some MLAs try to disrupt the House when it is in session. After they are suspended, they go outside and give misleading statements to the media. There should be a rule to put such MLAs in a detention room, where they are made to stay and offered tea,” the Minister said.

“Such a room can be set up after the Assembly Secretariat formulates the necessary rules and procedures,” the Speaker said.

Mr Gogoi slammed Mr. Bora for floating the idea. “This is expected from a person who has no idea about the Constitution of India. Making him understand democracy, transparency, and freedom of expression is an uphill task,” he said.

Congress leader Debabrata Saikia criticised the proposal as undemocratic. Members of the All India United Democratic Front said the government was trying to do to elected representatives what it has been doing to a section of people deemed ‘illegal immigrants’.

Assam had six detention centres in as many Central jails for people declared non-citizens by the Foreigners’ Tribunals. The first of these six was established in 2008, three years after the allegedly pro-foreigners Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act of 1983 was scrapped.

The detention centres in Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Jorhat, Kokrajhar, Silchar, and Tezpur were discontinued after the Matia transit camp in western Assam’s Goalpara district became operational in January 2023. All the inmates were gradually shifted from the detention centres to Matia.

In 2018, the Centre sanctioned funds to build the Matia detention centre to house 3,000 inmates. The Assam government issued a notification in August 2021 to rename the centre as a transit camp.