Don’t need treaty with Bangladesh to ‘push back’ undocumented migrants, says Assam CM

Assam will “push back” undocumented migrants into Bangladesh within a week of them being declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday.

He added that the state government does “not need” a repatriation treaty between New Delhi and Dhaka for this, according to The New Indian Express.

Speaking to reporters, Sarma also said that in the last three months, the Assam government had forced 2,000 persons into Bangladesh. He added that this was adopted as a policy after the revival of the 1950 Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act.

The Act grants power to district commissioners and senior superintendents of police to expel “illegal migrants” from the state by bypassing the Foreigners’ Tribunals.

In September, the Assam Cabinet approved the framing of a standard operating procedure under the Act. Earlier, cases pertaining to undocumented migrants were handled by the Foreigners’ Tribunals.

Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship. They have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and of declaring people foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.

Those declared foreigners by the tribunals have the option to appeal the decision before the Gauhati High Court or the Supreme Court. Additionally, as the formal process entails undocumented migrants being handed over to the authorities of the other country after verifying their citizenship, several persons have not been deported despite being declared foreigners.

However, since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asked them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

On Thursday, Sarma said that the decision to force persons into Bangladesh within a week of them being declared foreigners had been taken so that the process does not get prolonged in the High Court or the Supreme Court.

“The whole problem is that there was no instrument in the hands of the state government to do anything once a person is declared a foreigner,” he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “So, a designated jail was made. Ultimately, they would get even more facilities there from the state government than they would get in their villages.”

Sarma said that with the state government’s new policy, it has “bypassed the need” for a treaty between India and Bangladesh on the matter.

Through this, the state would be able to expel 10,000 to 50,000 undocumented migrants in a year if they are identified, the chief minister was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

“If the eviction of foreigners was the hallmark in the last five years, the next five years will be marked by the number of foreigners expelled,” he added.

Assam is expected to head for Assembly election in the next four months.

In June, Sarma had claimed that the expulsion of declared foreigners was justified in the legal framework provided by the Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act.

The chief minister had said that the Supreme Court in October 2024 upheld Section 6A of the 1955 Citizenship Act, which gave “sweeping powers” to the Assam government to act under the 1950 law and that a deputy commissioner has the power to evict any person if there is prime facie evidence of him or her being an “illegal foreigner”.

Also read:

• Why experts contest Assam CM’s use of 1950 law to justify forcing out people into Bangladesh

• Bangladeshi or Indian? Investigating Modi government’s crackdown on ‘illegal immigrants’