Assam Police arrest 14 declared foreigners by tribunals

GUWAHATI — A special team of Assam police arrested 14 people from different parts of Baksa district who had earlier been declared aliens by the Foreigners’ Tribunals, officials said on Saturday.

Superintendent of Police (SP) for Baksa district Ujjal Pratim Baruah stated that they followed the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FT) orders to arrest these individuals.

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“They were declared foreigners by tribunals and we received a list of their names with arrest orders. As per that our special team conducted operations,” he said.

The arrested people include nine women and five men.

Police stated, "This includes those who were arrested in Assam for illegally entering from Bangladesh by violating visa provisions and those who were declared foreigners by FTs in Assam."

They have been identified as Md Jahur Ali (79), Sarifa Begum Bibi (76), Siddique Ali (42), Faziran Begum (65), Anowara Khatoon (50), Musstt Rahiman Nessa (57), Pariman Nessa alias Kariman (30), Musstt. Houshi Khatoon (38), Md. Amzad Ali (72), Mukbul Hussain (60), Mafida Khatun (52), Hamida Begam (65), Jahanara Khatun (70) and Maij Uddin alias Shaij Uddin (55).

According to the police, all of them were taken to a specially-constructed detention camp in Matia area in Goalpara district.

As per the law, they would all eventually be deported to Bangladesh. However, none of the people who were labeled foreigners by FTs were deported, despite the fact that numerous illegal migrants from Bangladesh were repatriated to their homeland in recent years.

According to social activist Kamal Chakrabarty, Bangladesh only accepts people who have illegally entered India. Those who were classified as Bangladeshis by Indian FTs are never accepted by the neighbouring country.

The Supreme Court of India ordered the Assam Government to grant bail to inmates who had served two years in detention camps in April 2020. After that, a large number of them were freed.

In Matia, a large detention camp was opened last year. Known officially as the Matia Transit Camp, this 28,800 sq ft facility welcomed its first group of foreign residents on January 27 of last year.

Assam's Inspector-General of Prisons, Pubali Gohain, said that all of the inmates from the state's six detention camps had been transferred to the Matia transit camp.