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Indian Express
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
In Gauhati HC, challenge to Assam's ‘pushback' into Bangladesh: ‘Nothing in law ratifies this action'
The All BTC Minority Students Union has moved the Gauhati High Court with a petition against the Assam government's actions of 'pushing back' alleged foreigners into Bangladesh after the Supreme Court refused to entertain their plea and asked them to approach the high court. In a hearing held Friday at the Gauhati High Court, a Bench of Justices Manish Choudhury and Mitali Thakuria directed the counsels for the petitioners to identify specific individuals affected by the state government's actions. 'Mr. [A.R.] Bhuyan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has submitted that he has received the detailed particulars of persons who have been picked up and who have been subjected to the alleged Pushback Policy adopted by the State. It is his submission that they were earlier on Indian soil, but, after being picked up their whereabouts are not known,' states the order, adding that advocate Bhuyan has submitted that he will file an additional affidavit with details of the persons by July 14. Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared virtually for the petitioners, argued that pushbacks are being conducted by the state government without legal sanction. 'Nothing in law ratifies this action called pushbacks. Pushback is relevant only [under] certain circumstances, that is if there are some aliens coming on to the territory, and you catch them at the border and do not allow them to enter, where you have no admission policy, that is push back. But people who are already on this side of the border, who have been subject to judicial proceedings and some of whom have failed the judicial proceedings and other who are suspected to be illegal immigrants, there is no procedure under the law in which they can just be taken to the border and pushed across the border,' he argued. Assam Advocate General Devajit Saikia, appearing for the state, argued that the petition is 'vague' and questioned whether the ABMSU had legal standing to file the petition. 'Mr. Saikia, learned Advocate General, has raised an issue of maintainability of the instant PIL,' noted the court in its order. In their petition, the ABMSU have prayed for the court to declare 'the 'push-back' policy adopted by the state respondent' as 'unconstitutional' and 'illegal' and to direct the state to not deport or push back people without following 'the due process of law.'
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Business Standard
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
SC rejects plea on deportation drive in Assam, asks petitioner to move HC
A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma told the petitioner to approach the Gauhati High Court in the matter The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea which alleged that the Assam government has reportedly launched a "sweeping" drive to detain and deport persons suspected to be foreigners without nationality verification or exhaustion of legal remedies. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and 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 petitioner All BTC Minority Students Union. 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. Hegde said the petitioner would withdraw the plea to take appropriate recourse before the high court. The bench allowed him to withdraw the plea. The plea, filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed, referred to a February 4 order of the top court which, while dealing with a separate petition, had 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 (of February 4)... 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," the plea claimed. It referred to news reports, including one about a retired school teacher who was allegedly "pushed back" into Bangladesh. "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 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," the plea claimed. It alleged that the indiscriminate application of deportation directives, coupled with absence of proper identification, verification and notice mechanisms, has resulted in a situation where Indian citizens were being wrongfully incarcerated and threatened with removal to foreign territories without lawful basis. 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. It also sought a declaration that the "push back" policy adopted by Assam was violative of Articles 14 (equality before law) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution and contrary to binding judicial precedents. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scroll.in
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
SC refuses to entertain petition against Assam ‘pushing' back declared foreigners to Bangladesh
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition challenging the Assam government 'pushing' back to Bangladesh persons who have been declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals in the state, Live Law reported. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and SC Sharma was hearing a petition filed by the All BTC Minority Students Union, which claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state was arbitrarily pushing Indian citizens to Bangladesh without following due process under the guise of deporting undocumented migrants. 'Why are you not going to the Gauhati High Court?' PTI quoted the bench as asking advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared for the All BTC Minority Students Union. In response, Hegde said that the petition was based on an order passed by the top court earlier. The advocate also said that the union would withdraw the petition and take recourse before the High Court. The Supreme Court then allowed him to withdraw the petition. The petition came against the backdrop of a surge in detentions of declared foreigners in Assam since May 23. Families say they have no information on their relatives' whereabouts. Some of them have identified their missing relatives in videos from Bangladesh, alleging they were forcibly sent across the border. Scroll had earlier reported that a former teacher from Morigaon district, Khairul Islam, whose citizenship case was still being heard in the Supreme Court, had been picked up from the Matia detention centre and forced out along the Bangladesh border near Assam's South Salmara district in the early hours of May 27. In a video recorded by journalist Mostafuzur Tara from Bangladesh's Rangpur division, Khairul Islam alleged that he was among 14 persons 'pushed' into Bangladesh by India's Border Security Force on the morning of May 27. Islam and the others were reported to be in no man's land, between the two countries. Three days later, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma admitted to 'pushing' back persons who were declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals to Bangladesh. Stating that the process to push back foreigners would continue, Sarma claimed that the action was being taken as per the directives issued by the Supreme Court in February. On February 4, the Supreme Court directed the state government to start the process of deporting foreign nationals being held in the state's detention centres immediately. It had said that foreign nationals can be deported even without an address. 'You cannot continue to detain them they are held to be foreigners, they should be deported immediately.' Foreigners Tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship. Only those living in the state before March 25, 1971, or their descendants, qualify as Indian citizens in Assam, as per the Assam Accord. However, these tribunals 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. In its petition, the All BTC Minority Students Union said that after the February 4 order, the Assam government had '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', PTI reported. Referring to several news reports about persons being 'pushed' into Bangladesh, the petition said that these instances reflected 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'.
Hindustan Times
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
SC refuses to entertain plea challenging ‘push backs' from Assam to Bangladesh
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition challenging alleged deportations to Bangladesh of people other than 63 individuals identified as foreigners in Assam and directed the petitioner to approach the high court. 'You take your recourse to approach the Gauhati high court. 63 persons are being deported. You go to the high court,' said a bench of justices Sanjay Karol and SC Sharma, as it heard a student group's petition. The petition annexed press clippings showing people other than the 63 were being picked up and deported to Bangladesh. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, who represented the petitioner All BTC Minority Students Union (ABMSU), said the 63 were declared foreigners after the external affairs ministry and Bangladesh confirmed their nationality for deportations. 'The action of deportation is based on a pending order,' he said, referring to a February 4 Supreme Court order asking the Union and the Assam governments to deport the foreigners at an Assam detention centre by expediting the process of verification of their nationality with the external affairs ministry and Bangladesh. The court also scheduled for next week the hearing of a habeas corpus plea of a son seeking the whereabouts of his mother, claiming police picked her up for deportation to Bangladesh. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the petitioner, said the alleged arrest was directly in violation of the DK Basu guidelines of the Supreme Court on arrests. 'They simply come and pick her up, and she is thrown out. She was out on bail by the order of this court since December 28, 2019.' Sibal cited the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee Versus Union of India case. He added that the court directed the release of detainees in the foreigners camp in Assam, who had completed over three years in detention, subject to certain conditions. The petitioner's mother, Monowara Bera, was among those detainees granted bail. The court said it would tag this matter with a pending plea. 'We do not know if she is in the country anymore.' Sibal said that the petitioner has approached the court to know her whereabouts. 'Let the state file a counter, as we do not know where she is. They need to respond where she is.' The court issued a notice to the Assam government after the petitioner said that his mother was detained at Dhubri police station since May 24, and he has no information whether she was deported. ABMSU has cited similar instances of deportation, citing newspaper reports. It said retired school teacher Kahirul Islam, Abu Bakkar Siddik, and Akbar Ali were allegedly 'pushed back' into Bangladesh without due process. The ABMSU's petition said the instances reflect a growing pattern of Assam Police and administration's deportations through informal 'push back' mechanisms, without any judicial oversight or adherence to the safeguards the Constitution and the Supreme Court envisage. The petition said the 'push back' policy was being implemented in the border districts of Dhubri, South Salmara, and Goalpara. 'This is not only legally indefensible, but also threatens to render stateless numerous Indian citizens, especially those from poor and marginalised communities who were either declared foreigners ex parte or have no access to legal aid to challenge their status.' The petition sought a stay on the deportations of people other than those on the list of 63 foreigners and a direction to the state and Union government to place the record of the process before the Supreme Court.
Time of India
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea over deportation drive in Assam, asks petitioner to approach High Court
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea which alleged that the Assam government has reportedly launched a "sweeping" drive to detain and deport persons suspected to be foreigners without nationality verification or exhaustion of legal remedies. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and 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 petitioner All BTC Minority Students Union. 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. Live Events Hegde said the petitioner would withdraw the plea to take appropriate recourse before the high court. The bench allowed him to withdraw the plea. The plea, filed through advocate Adeel Ahmed, referred to a February 4 order of the top court which, while dealing with a separate petition, had 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 (of February 4)... 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," the plea claimed. It referred to news reports, including one about a retired school teacher who was allegedly " pushed back " into Bangladesh . "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 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," the plea claimed. It alleged that the indiscriminate application of deportation directives, coupled with absence of proper identification, verification and notice mechanisms, has resulted in a situation where Indian citizens were being wrongfully incarcerated and threatened with removal to foreign territories without lawful basis. 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. It also sought a declaration that the "push back" policy adopted by Assam was violative of Articles 14 ( equality before law ) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution and contrary to binding judicial precedents.
