193 persons declared foreigners by Assam’s Foreigners Tribunal have been sent back to Bangladesh in the last two years, the state government told the Assam Assembly on Monday. The Chief Minister disclosed these figures in a written reply to a question by All India United Democratic Front MLA Badruddin Ajmal in the current Assembly session. A total of 1,679 undocumented migrants have been deported from the state from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024, the chief minister said.
Among the 193 people sent back to Bangladesh was a baby girl, who was sent to the border with her mother, who was declared a foreigner. The Chief Minister informed the House that 67 out of 193 people have been deported from Assam under the Deportation of Immigrants Act, which empowers district commissioners and senior superintendents of police to deport illegal immigrants from the state, barring foreign tribunal proceedings. The list of 1,679 people sent by the government includes convicted foreign nationals, identified undocumented migrants and persons declared aliens by tribunals.
Asked by MLA Badruddin Ajmal how many deportees had appealed to the High Court or the Supreme Court, the government clarified that no identified illegal immigrants would be repatriated while the appeal was pending in the court. The government also has no information on whether any of the returnees subsequently appealed to the High Court or the Supreme Court, the reply said. The Foreigners Tribunals of Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that hear citizenship issues with a foundation year of 1971. However, these agencies have been accused of biasedly declaring individuals as foreigners based on minor spelling mistakes, lack of documents or memory errors.
India’s Supreme Court overturned the Guwahati High Court’s ruling declaring 27 people foreigners on the day the figures were presented in the Assembly. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta referred the cases to the Foreigners Tribunal for a fresh trial. The Supreme Court has made it clear that the determination of citizenship and alien status carries deep constitutional significance and it is imperative that the entire process be conducted in a fair, legal and rational manner.
