After relocating the inmates to a new facility, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday that the old Jorhat Central Jail will be maintained as a heritage monument, According to the PTI.
A tribute to the country’s freedom fighters
During a visit to the jail grounds, Sarma stated that the state government plans to maintain the site as a tribute to India’s freedom warriors as part of the country’s 75th-anniversary celebrations.
“The state government will preserve the Jorhat Central Jail as a heritage site after shifting the present prison to another place in the district. The government will develop a heritage site in 100 bighas of jail land,” he said in an official statement.
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History of the jail
Former President Fakaruddin Ali Ahmed, former Chief Ministers Gopinath Bordoloi and Bimala Prasad Chaliha, Amiyo Kumar Das, Bijoy Bhagawati, and Kamakhya Tripathi were all imprisoned in this jail during the freedom struggle.
Beja Bauri and Kamala Miri, both freedom fighters, died at this prison. On June 15, 1943, martyr Kushal Konwar was executed in Jorhat jail.
Before that, Maniram Dutta Baruah, also known as Maniram Diwan, a pioneer in Assamese tea growing, was hanged in Jorhat jail in 1858 for conspiring against the British.
CM Sarma visited the site
Sarma spoke with jail officials as well as a few convicts, gathering information on their problems.
He also went inside the jail to see where independence fighter Kushal Konwar was hanged, as well as the cell where freedom fighter and social reformer Pitambar Dev Goswami was held.
“The Chief Minister during the visit offered his tributes to these legendary freedom fighters,” the release stated.
The Jorhat Central Jail, originally known as the Jorhat District Jail, was built in 1909 and opened in 1911 during British control in India.
