Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the state government is exploring the possibility of “pushing back” suspected foreigners into Bangladesh without going through the existing process of identification via Foreigners Tribunals.
To support this, he cited a 1950 law, which was issued before the institution of Foreigners Tribunals in the state. He stated that the Supreme Court, while hearing the question of the validity of Clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, had stated that this law is still in force.
Last week, Sarma had confirmed that the state is carrying out “push backs” of people who had been declared foreigners by the state’s Foreigners Tribunals by invoking a February 4 Supreme Court order. The top court had pulled up the state for not initiating the process of deporting declared foreigners lodged in the Matia detention centre. Civil groups as well as sections of opposition parties have argued that these “push backs” violate the procedures of deportation.
On Saturday, Sarma said, “Pushbacks will continue and the process of identifying foreigners, which had been paused because of the NRC (National Register of Citizens), will be sped up again. And this time, if someone is identified as a foreigner, we won’t send them to a tribunal; we will just keep pushing them back. Preparations for this are going on.”
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies which determine whether a person presented before them, usually referred by the border police or those listed as ‘D-voters’ in electoral rolls, is a “foreigner” or an Indian citizen. Those declared foreigners by these tribunals have the option to appeal against the order by approaching the Gauahti High Court and the Supreme Court.
