Gauhati HC seeks Assam govt's response on whereabouts of detained brothers declared 'foreigners'

Guwahati, May 30 (IANS) The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to disclose the whereabouts of two brothers declared as foreigners by a tribunal, amid growing concerns over alleged arbitrary detentions and fears of illegal pushbacks across the border, officials said on Friday.

A division bench comprising Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Malasri Nandi issued the directive on Thursday while hearing a writ petition filed by the brothers' nephew, Torap Ali.

The petitioner claimed that his uncles - Abu Bakkar Siddik and Akbar Ali - were taken into custody by officers from Nagarbera police station in Kamrup district on May 25, and their family has since been kept in the dark about their status.

The court has scheduled the next hearing for June 4.

Torap Ali alleged that his uncles are at risk of being "illegally pushed into Bangladesh" without exhausting all legal remedies available to them. He contended that the authorities had withheld crucial information regarding the brothers' detention.

Responding to the petition, state counsel J. Payeng informed the court that Siddik and Ali are currently in the custody of the Assam Border Police. The two brothers were declared foreigners by a Foreigners Tribunal in 2017, after failing to furnish documents proving that they or their ancestors entered India before the March 24, 1971, cut-off date established by the 1985 Assam Accord. They were subsequently held at the Goalpara detention camp but were granted bail in 2020, following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the release of detainees who had been in custody for more than two years.

The petitioner argued that any attempt to deport the duo without a conclusive legal determination constitutes a violation of their fundamental rights under the Constitution. Foreigners Tribunals — quasi-judicial bodies established under the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964 — operate primarily in Assam to determine the citizenship status of individuals under the Foreigners Act of 1946. Currently, the state has 100 such tribunals functioning, especially in connection with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and related immigration matters.

--IANS

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