GUWAHATI, July 8 - The Assam Police has now made it mandatory for the respective superintendents of police (SPs) of the districts to �explain and justify� the reasons behind referring or not referring a �suspected foreigner� case to the foreigners tribunal (FT).
The justification has to be given in �black and white� in the official proforma, which has now been revised by the State Border Police Organisation (SBPO).
The SBPO, according to official sources, has redrafted and concised the standard proforma, making it mandatory for the SP concerned to explain the grounds behind his or her decision.
The idea behind the decision is to ease the burden on foreigners tribunals from cases lacking veracity and also setting accountability on the part of the investigator.
The SBPO has so far scrutinized nearly 3,500 cases where the FTs have declared the accused as �not foreigner� contrary to the submissions made by the Assam Police.
The State Level Screening Committee on the basis of the recommendations made by the Border Police has already challenged such cases in the Gauhati High Court.
The new proforma would also require the suspected national in question to give pinpoint answers to queries about his/her place of origin and other relevant details.
�The respective SP of the district would have to explain his justification in the proforma before deciding to or not to forward the case to the foreigner tribunal,� official sources said. �We have decided to replace the old proforma as it was repetitive and cumbersome in nature. The new proforma has been concised by more than 30 questions. The suspected national will now have to answer 21 points in place of 51,� sources added.
A senior official of the Assam Police said that the latest decision would mean that the SP concerned would have to thoroughly study the case in question before talking a call on a suspected national and not just refer it for the sake of it.
�The decision would not just help in filtering the genuine cases before placing them before the tribunals, but it will also make the SP concerned accountable to a large extent,� he pointed out.
