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The Gauhati high court has asked the Assam government to review orders passed by the state’s foreigners tribunals after noting an affidavit by the state administration that in almost 85% cases, those who were declared suspected illegal immigrants were finally found to be Indian citizens.
The order was issued by a bench comprising justices Achintya Malla Bujor Barua and Mitali Thakuria on November 21 — a copy of which was made available on Friday — while hearing a petition by Forhad Ali, a resident of Bongaigaon, who was declared foreigner by a tribunal in October 2019.
Ali had approached the high court to appeal against that decision.
Foreigners’ tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies in Assam which adjudicate whether a person whose name is missing from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the state or are suspected to be illegal immigrants are Indians or not.
The contentious NRC process — which created a list of people who could prove they came to the state by March 24, 1971, the day before the war for Bangladesh’s liberation began — was completed in 2018 and left out 1.9 million residents.
In its order in the present case, the tribunal had declared Forhad Ali as a foreigner as the name of his father was written as Habi Rahman and Habibar Rahman in different documents submitted by him.
The HC noted that there could be minor discrepancies in the names, but it couldn’t be the sole basis of declaring Forhad as a foreigner unless there was proof that both names were of different people. The HC sent the case back to the tribunal, directing it to re-examine all records, including voter lists, before making a final decision.
In a submission made to the HC, the home department of Assam had stated that in about 85% of cases that are referred to foreigners tribunals, the petitioners were declared as citizens.
The high court bench expressed concern that in many cases, people might have been declared as foreigners without citing reasons or properly analysing the documents on record. Similarly, foreigners could have been wrongly declared as Indians by the tribunals, the court said.
The HC ordered the home department to provide judgements of tribunals on a random sampling basis. After examination, it was found that while some decisions were “good, reasoned orders” many others were issued without citing reasons or analysing records.
“We require the secretary to the government of Assam in the home department to conduct a departmental review of all such references that had been answered by the tribunals declaring the proceedees to be citizens,” the HC order stated.
It directed the government to take “appropriate measures” where it is noticed that orders were passed without citing reasons or analysing materials.
“The result thereof be put up in the public domain or before the people of the state for their knowledge, as the matter of illegal immigrants in Assam is an issue which may affect the entire state,” the order read.
Utpal is a Senior Assistant Editor based in Guwahati. He covers seven states of North-East India and heads the editorial team for the region. He was previously based in Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi with Hindustan Times.