22 inmate children in Assam declared 'foreigners'

In all, 22 children along with their nine mothers are lodged at three detention centres in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the state Assembly on Monday.
22 inmate children in Assam declared 'foreigners'

GUWAHATI: In all, 22 children along with their nine mothers are lodged at three detention centres in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in the state Assembly on Monday. Replying to a question, Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that nine "convicted women foreigners" along with 22 children are presently lodged in three detention centres in Kokrajhar, Silchar and Tezpur. Of the 22 children, 20 are below 14 years of age while two are above 14 years.

The Chief Minister said that in the six detention centres of the state – in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Tezpur – 181 detenues were lodged.

Of the 181 detenues, 61 are "declared foreign nationals" while the remaining 120 were convicted by the court and are awaiting deportation after their terms of sentence got over.

Subsequently, another 481 were released based on separate orders issued by the apex court and the Gauhati High Court in April 2020.

Sarma said that so far, 29 people have died in the detention centres due to various diseases.

The cases of suspected foreigners are being dealt with under the Foreigners' Tribunal (FT), a quasi-judicial institute.

Till April 30 this year, the FTs have disposed of 2,98,471 cases. Of them, 1,39,900 were declared as foreigners while 321 were repatriated. (IANS)

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