The Supreme Court has severely lambasted the Assam government for delaying the deportation of people declared as foreigners. A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan asked the state government why it had not taken any action and if it was waiting for some “muhurat” to proceed with the deportations.
SC Directs Immediate Deportation of Foreigners
The court directed the Assam government to repatriate 63 people who are still in detention camps. These are foreigners who had been declared in the process of verification under the National Register of Citizens. The state government said that it didn’t have their address details from their respective countries of origin and that this seemed not convincing enough to the Supreme Court.
Justice Oka accused Assam of “suppressing facts,” leading to Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta offering an apology on behalf of the executive, admitting to “some lacunae” in the process. Justice Oka issued a stern warning: “We will issue a perjury notice to you. You are supposed to come clean.”
Court Questions Assam’s Legal Stand on Detention
Justice Bhuyan also questioned the state’s prolonged detention of foreigners without initiating deportation. “Once you declare a person as a foreigner, you must take the next logical step. You can’t detain them forever. Article 21 is there. There are many foreign detention centers in Assam. How many have you deported?” he asked.
Rebutting the argument of the state that it did nothing, Justice Oka provided a direct answer saying, “You deport them to the capital city of the country. Suppose the person is from Pakistan, you know the capital city of Pakistan? How can you keep them detained here saying their foreign address is not known?”
SC Urges Assam to Seek External Affairs Ministry’s Help
The court also raised a question of why Assam did not seek assistance from the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the process of deportation. “You know the status of their citizenship. Then how can you wait till their address is received? It is for the other country to decide where should they go,” Justice Oka asserted.
The Supreme Court remarks have heightened the controversy surrounding Assam’s handling of cases of deportation of foreigners, which it urgently called for to maintain legal and human rights principles.