4 min readGuwahatiJul 14, 2026 10:42 AM IST
First published on: Jul 14, 2026 at 05:40 AM IST
A total of 193 people declared foreigners by Assam’s Foreigner Tribunals have been “pushed” into Bangladesh over the last two years, including 67 ‘declared foreigners’ who have been sent across the border by invoking 1950 Immigrants Expulsion Act revived last year, data submitted by the Assam government in the legislative assembly shows.
This data was submitted by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the home minister, in response to a question by All India United Democratic Front MLA Badruddin Ajmal on the same day that Foreigners Tribunals are in the spotlight. On Monday, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta had set aside a batch of 27 judgments of the Gauhati High Court that had upheld Foreigners Tribunal orders declaring the appellants to be foreigners’ ex-parte — meaning that the proceedings had been conducted and orders passed in their absence – ruling that citizenship determinations must be carried out through a fair, lawful and reasonable process.
The Supreme Court remanded all 27 cases to the concerned Foreigners Tribunals for fresh adjudication, noting that the question of citizenship carries significant constitutional weight.
On the same day, AIUDF MLA raised a question in the ongoing Assam assembly session on the number of people who have been “pushed back” to Bangladesh in the last two years. In the response submitted by Sarma, the Assam government has submitted that a total of 1,679 people have been sent to Bangladesh between July 1 2024 and June 30 2026, categorizing them as people who have been sent through formal deportation, those who have been “sent back” and those who have been “expelled”.
Of these 1679, 192 have been listed as people who have been declared foreigners by FTs, while one, Moriom Begum, is a baby girl who had been sent across with her mother who is a Declared Foreigner.
Legally, those declared foreigners by Foreigners’ Tribunals can appeal in the Gauhati High Court and Supreme Court. Additionally, the formal process of deportation entails a handover to the authorities of the other country after mutual verification that an individual is a national of the other country. Since May 2025, the Assam government has taken recourse to “pushing” declared foreigners “back”, or forcing them across the international border without entering discussions with the other country. Then in September, the government announced that it is reviving the defunct Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, framed an SOP, and has invoked it on multiple occasion directing declared foreigners to leave the country within 24 hours, after which authorities send them across the international border.
According to the Assam government data provided, 67 declared foreigners have been sent to Bangladesh through “expulsion.” Of these, the highest number, 19, are from the Central Assam district of Nagaon. Sixteen are from the Western Assam district of Kokrajhar, seven from the Western Assam district of Barpets, four each from Western Assam’s Chirang and Central Assam’s Karbi Anglong.
Three each are from Dima Hasao and Hojai, and two each are from Kamrup Rural and Dhubri. One each are from Bongaigaon, Tamulpur, Udalguri, Biswanath, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, and Hailakandi.
The 126 other declared foreigners who have been listed as “repatriated” have been categorised as those who have been “sent back.” This includes a baby girl from Darrang district, who The Indian Express had reported as being “pushed back” with her mother Manikjan in May last year.
In response to a question by Ajmal how many of the “deported persons” have appealed in the High Court and Supreme Court, the government’s reply states, “No identified illegal immigrant is repatriated if any appeal is pending in Honourable High Court or Supreme Court of India. There is no information available if any repatriated people appealed before the Honourable High Court or Supreme Court of India.”
A Foreigners’ Tribunal in Assam.
(File photo) 
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