Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Keep declared migrants in detention camps: HC

By STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Feb 22 � In a scathing indictment of the State Government over its inaction in detecting and deporting declared illegal migrants from Bangladesh as also deleting their names from the voters list in Assam, the Gauhati High Court has asked the State Government to keep the migrants in detention camps till finalization of the proceedings.

��the State Government cannot have any excuse on that count (the act of vanishing by the declared foreigners) and will have to ensure their detection and deportation. If need be, the proceedees should be kept in detection camps till finalization of the proceedings,� Justice BK Sharma said in his order in a writ petition case on Wednesday.

The court further said that otherwise, the jurisdictional police station and the SP (B) of the district must be made responsible and directed to ensure the presence of such suspected foreigners during the proceedings and their immediate detention after declaration as post-March 25, 1971 foreigners.

The court also asked the State Government to keep track of all the proceedings before the Foreigners Tribunals, and depending upon the declaration made in the proceedings, the Government must initiate action to delete the names of the declared foreigners from the electoral rolls.

On the gross negligence of the various government authorities in connection with the detection and deportation procedure of illegal migrants, the court � while observing on the aforesaid case � called for disciplinary action to be initiated against the officers concerned �because of whose inaction the names of petitioners were not deleted immediately after the declarations made on November 12, 2002 and August 20, 2002.�

In the case, the 11 accused � Nazir Uddin, Afia Begum, Badrul Haque, Aklas Ali, Kamrul Haque, Siri Begum, Bibijan Bibi, Abdul Sahid, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Malik and Fatima � continued to defy their registration with the registering authority, which is required to be done as they were found to be foreigners within the 1966-71 stream. Their names were not deleted from the voters list as is required to be done from the date of the declaration, i.e., November 12, 2002 and August 20, 2002.

The petitioners who were illegal foreigners, however, continued to participate in all the elections since the past 10 years � be it Parliamentary, Assembly and Panchayat, the court observed.

�It is only in Assam such things can happen in which not only the constitutional mandates are violated by not taking the required action in the matter of detection and deportation of foreign nationals but they are also extended with the protective hands to remain in Assam (India) with all the rights of a citizen including the voting rights,� the court noted.

Next Story