Assam Government’s Recent Steps

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a plan last Monday. The state government aims to use a law from 1950. This law will address the issue of suspected foreigners.

The police recently took several people into custody. These individuals were declared non-citizens by Assam’s foreigners tribunals. They were then escorted out of Indian territory along the Bangladesh border.

All of them were reportedly Muslims of Bengali-origin. This community is often referred to as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. However, many of its members have lived in Assam since before Independence.

Families are concerned. Some relatives were seen in videos shot in the no man’s land between India and Bangladesh. Sarma confirmed that his government is taking action against “declared foreigners”.

Sarma insists that the expulsion of declared foreigners is legal. He refers to the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950.

Understanding Declared Foreigners

Declared foreigners are not undocumented migrants. They are not individuals caught trying to enter India illegally. Instead, they have lived in Assam for many years. They claim to be Indian but could not prove their ancestry.

These people could not convince foreigners tribunals. They needed to show that their ancestors lived in Assam before March 25, 1971. This is the cutoff date for citizenship under Section 6A of the Citizenship Act.

Foreigners tribunals are unique to Assam. They are special bodies that decide on citizenship matters.

Legal Experts Weigh In

Sarma claims a Supreme Court judgement from October 2024 supports his actions. He says a deputy commissioner can now remove any person suspected of being an “illegal foreigner.”

However, legal experts disagree. They argue that Sarma is misinterpreting the law and the Supreme Court judgement.

Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, a Delhi-based lawyer, says Sarma’s interpretation is incorrect. It justifies an illegal action. The claim that “push-backs” are validated by the Supreme Court is not accurate.

A Brief History of the 1950 Law

After Partition, many refugees and migrants entered Assam from East Pakistan. Around 500,000 migrants and refugees entered the state in these early years.

The central government introduced the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. This law gave the government the power to expel people who were “ordinarily resident outside India.”

The law provided relief to refugees fleeing Pakistan due to “civil disturbances or fear of such disturbances.”

Hiren Gohain, a social scientist, noted that the border between Assam and East Pakistan was only three years old at the time. Most people in rural East Pakistan were unaware of or not serious about that border.

The law aimed to catch and expel such “infiltrators.” Between 1962 and 1964, the police began a crackdown on alleged infiltrators. They pushed back mainly Bengali-speaking people, regardless of religion.

The drive caused a lot of trouble. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, an Asamiya Muslim, took up the issue of atrocities. Pakistan also threatened to take the issue of deportation to the United Nations.

Eventually, it was decided that each case should be examined by a judicial authority. This led to the creation of Assam’s foreigners tribunals.

The Section 6A Judgement

Sarma has cited the Supreme Court judgement that upheld Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955. This section was introduced after the Assam Accord was signed in 1985.

The Assam Accord ended a six-year-long protest in the state against “illegal infiltration” from Bangladesh. Section 6A opened a path for Indian citizenship for those who came to Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971.

The Supreme Court directed that the provisions of the 1950 Act should be read into Section 6A. However, lawyers argue that Sarma is misinterpreting the judgement.

The 1950 Act was not a major part of the hearings. The Assam government did not indicate in court that it saw the act as a way to push back alleged foreigners.

Legal experts argue that Sarma’s use of the 1950 Act could undermine Section 6A and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NRC is a list of Indian citizens living in Assam, updated between 2013 and 2019.

Constitutional Concerns

Lawyers involved in the case emphasize that the 1950 law cannot be used to validate “pushbacks.” These actions are unconstitutional.

The 1950 Act only allows the government to remove foreigners in specific situations. Pushing individuals across the border without any hearing is not constitutional.

Any procedure established by law should be fair, just, and reasonable. It cannot be arbitrary, as the chief minister suggests.