B. C onclusion and Recommendations This chapter examines a palpable and direct consequence of precarious citizenship and statelessness – detention. Detention constitutes an imminent and visceral threat to life and liberty, and also affects all other political liberties. This chapter clarifies the legal position and provides arguments, guidelines, and recommendations to prevent arbitrary detention of persons who are either stateless or at the verge of being rendered stateless, with specific focus on the situation of precarious citizens in Assam. This chapter argues that the detention of precarious citizens in Assam is arbitrary and prohibited under law. It specifically argues that indefinite detention is inherently arbitrary and is prohibited. It delves into alternatives to detention followed by substantive and procedural rights of detained precarious citizens. Lastly, it focuses on the children in detention in Assam. The bleak and deplorable conditions found inside detention camps in Assam leave much to be desired. The NHRC Report of the Special Monitor on Minorities describes the bleak realities of detention centres in Assam.152 It states that there are presently no independent detention centres in Assam, though they are under construction. Jail complexes in six districts have been converted into detention facilities, of which one is an all-women detention facility, where children below the age of six can reside with their mothers. This becomes concerning as there is no segregation of space inside these camps; detainees are kept along with convicts and undertrials, which has resulted in overcrowding.153 Each person has only 2-3 square feet of space,154 which is hardly enough to even move or turn around. This has further implications, as the lack of distinction between detainees 152 National Human Rights Commission, ‘Report on NHRC Mission to Assam’s Detention Centres from 22 to 24 January, 2018’ (CJP, 2018) <https://cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NHRC-ReportAssam-Detention-Centres-26-3-2018-1.pdf> accessed 27 May 2020. 153 Amnesty International, ‘Between Fear and Hatred: Surviving Migration Detention in Assam’ (Amnesty International 2018) <https://amnesty.org.in/assam-detention-centres/> accessed 16 June 2020. 154 LiveLaw News Network, ‘COVID-19: Plea in SC Seeks Release of Persons from Foreigners Detention Centres in Assam [Read Application]’ LiveLaw.in (1 April 2020) 8 <https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/ covid-19-plea-in-sc-seeks-release-of-persons-from-foreigners-detention-centres-in-assam-154652> accessed 1 April 2020. chapter ii • detention 99 99 SECTION III.