44,000 Foreigners Go Missing In Assam, 4 Deported

GUWAHATI: Unbelievable, but it is fact that 44,000 declared illegal migrants in Assam did the vanishing act in the past three years from 2015-2018 when only four such foreigners could be deported. This is not all. Dispur has admitted its lapses in catching illegal migrants who, as often as not, go missing soon after their declaration as foreigners.

It was none other than State Chief Secretary Alok Kumar, who informed the Supreme Court of India of this startling reality while replying to a query on Tuesday.

Summoned by the apex court, the Chief Secretary had to appear before it to reply to certain queries regarding detection and deportation of foreigners from Assam. During the hearing, as the head of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi questioned the Chief Secretary as to why the 44,000 declared foreigners now doing the vanishing act in Assam could not be caught, and as to why only four declared foreigners could be detected during the three years. However, the reply that came from the Chief Secretary is laden with a number of queries that seek right responses.

Replying to the query, the Chief Secretary passed the buck on the law-enforcement agencies, and said: “Lapses on the part of the law-enforcing agencies led to such a situation.”

What is intriguing in the Chief Secretary’s reply before the apex court is that Kumar himself, as the Chief Secretary, is the head of the law-enforcing agencies in Assam. This apart, law enforcement comes under the State Home Department which is held by none other than Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Does the Chief Secretary mean to say ‘it is the failure on the part of the Chief Minister’?

The Chief Justice then asked the State Chief Secretary to give every single problem the State government is facing in detecting foreigners and deporting them from the State in writing on April 25, 2019 when the case will be heard again.

Meanwhile, the apex court appointed an amicus, senior Supreme Court advocate Gaurav Banerjee, to help the apex court in detection of foreigners in Assam and their deportation from the State.

Reacting sharply to the development, AASU (All Assam Students’ Union) adviser-in-chief Samujjal Bhattacharya said: “It’s unfortunate that 44,000 declared Bangladeshis went missing in three years during which only four foreigners could be deported. Dispur has already admitted its failure to catch the missing foreigners.”

Meanwhile, the Assam Chief Secretary told the Supreme Court that the government is planning to have 1,000 tribunals to deal with pleas of those who have been left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Those excluded from the final NRC will have the right to move Foreigners Tribunals.

The Chief Secretary told the court that Rs 900 crore needed to be sanctioned for the tribunals and nearly 1,000 judges were required.

The Chief Secretary said the need for the tribunals had been communicated to the Union Home Ministry.

The Chief Justice sought to know how the judges would be recruited, on a temporary basis, for these tribunals.

The Chief Secretary said he had scheduled a meeting with the Registrar of the Gauhati High Court and a roadmap will be drawn in consultation with the High Court.

The Chief Justice asked if the Chief Secretary was confident that ‘good people’ will participate in conducting hearings in the tribunal. The Chief Secretary said the State government would approach retired judges.

Also Read: Top Headlines