New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Monday, refused to entertain a plea by the All BTC Minority Students Union against an alleged ‘sweeping’ drive by the Assam government to detain and deport persons suspected of being foreigners, without nationality verification or exhaustion of legal remedies.
The bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma told the petitioner to approach the Gauhati High Court in the matter.
“Why are you not going to the Gauhati High Court?” the bench asked senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared for the petitioner.
Hegde said the plea was based on an order passed by the apex court earlier.
“Please go to the Gauhati High Court,” the bench observed.
When Hegde said the petitioner would withdraw the plea to take appropriate recourse before the high court, the bench granted permission.
The plea, filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed, referred to a February 4 order of the Supreme Court that dealt with a separate petition. The Court had then directed Assam to initiate the process of deportation of 63 declared foreign nationals, whose nationality was known, within two weeks.
“Pursuant to the said order … the state of Assam has reportedly launched a sweeping and indiscriminate drive to detain and deport individuals suspected to be foreigners, even in the absence of foreigners tribunal declarations, nationality verification, or exhaustion of legal remedies,” it was claimed in the plea.
It referred to news reports, including one about a retired school teacher who was allegedly “pushed back” into Bangladesh. The teacher has since returned home.
“These instances reflect a growing pattern of deportations conducted by the Assam Police and administrative machinery through informal ‘push back’ mechanisms, without any judicial oversight or adherence to the safeguards envisaged by the Constitution of India or this court,” it has been claimed.
“The ‘push back’ policy, as implemented, violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution by deporting individuals without due process, thereby denying them the opportunity to contest their deportation and infringing upon their right to life and personal liberty,” it was stated.
It was also alleged that Indian citizens were being wrongfully incarcerated and threatened with removal to foreign territories without lawful basis through the indiscriminate application of deportation directives, coupled with the absence of proper identification, verification and notice mechanisms.
The plea sought a direction that no person shall be deported pursuant to the February 4 order without a prior reasoned declaration by the Foreigners’ Tribunal, without adequate opportunity of appeal or review and verification of nationality by the Ministry of External Affairs.
