Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday confirmed that the state is pushing people who have been declared foreigners by the state’s foreigners tribunals (FTs) across the international border into Bangladesh, invoking a February 4 Supreme Court order in which the court had pulled up the state not initiating the process of deporting ‘declared foreigners’ lodged in the Matia detention camp.
Sarma’s statements on Friday come amidst a spate of detentions across the state, particularly of people declared foreigners by the state’s FTs, since May 23. Many families of those detained say they have no knowledge of their whereabouts and have not received any clarity from authorities.
Many families have identified their kin in the reports and videos coming from Bangladesh of people who had allegedly been “pushed into” the country through the Indo-Bangladesh border.
“Push back” refers to an informal process of pushing people across the border, as opposed to a formal process of deportation, which entails a handover to the authorities of the other country after mutual verification that an individual is a national of the other country.
“You know that there is a Supreme Court case, and the Supreme Court had directed us that those who are declared foreigners have to be returned (to their country of origin) through whatever means. The people who are declared foreigners but haven’t even appealed in court, we are pushing them back. If among them, some people tell us that they have appeals in the High Court or Supreme Court, then we are not troubling them,” Sarma said.
Sarma was referring to a February 4 Supreme Court order by a Bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan. While seeking the status of inmates of the Matia transit camp – the dedicates detention camp for “illegal foreigners” in Assam – the state had submitted that it had not initiated deportation of the 63 inmates who were declared foreigners on the grounds that their addresses are not known, which is required for the formal verification process with the country of origin.
This submission had laid bare an ambiguity in the state’s process of detecting “foreigners” through FTs, quasi-judicial bodies which determine whether a person presented before them is a “foreigner” or an Indian citizen. These people are usually referred to FTs by the border police or are those listed as ‘D-voters’ in electoral rolls.
In the order, the court had stated, “When we asked a question to the Chief Secretary of Assam, who is present through video conference, whether the nationality of the persons listed at serial numbers 1 to 63 (the declared foreigners in the detention centre) is known, he answered affirmatively. As it is known that the persons are citizens of a particular country, there is no reason why the State of Assam cannot start the procedure for their deportation. Even if the address of these persons in the foreign country is not available, as the State is aware that they are citizens of a particular country, we direct the State to immediately start the process of deportation in respect of persons at serial numbers 1 to 63.”
On Friday, Sarma said that in a recent meeting of all district Superintendents of Police, the government had also decided to expedite the process of “detecting foreigners” in the state.
“So in the next few days, pushbacks will also be there, detection will also be done, and the Union government will also send some people to Bangladesh in coordination with the Bangladesh government,” he said.
He said that this process is not being applied to those who have pending appeals against the FT cases, but said that those who have not yet challenged it have “forfeited their right to stay in Assam.”
When reporters raised the case of people – including Morigaon resident Khairul Islam’s, which had reported – who had allegedly been “pushed back” despite their appeals pending in higher courts, Sarma said, “Somebody may have a Supreme Court case, he has to produce the order before the police.”
