Sixty-three Muslims in Assam are at high risk of deportation after the Indian Supreme Court directed the state government to begin the process of expelling them.   Families of those held in detention centers have strongly refuted claims that they are Bangladeshi foreigners, insisting on their Indian citizenship. The court reprimanded the government for not deporting 63 detainees, all Muslims, held in the Matia detention centre in the Goalpara district of Assam.

The court’s directions came as the Assam government filed an affidavit calling all these detainees “Bangladeshi nationals”. The government said that they did not deport these detainees as the alleged foreigners did not give their addresses in the “foreign country”.  On the contrary, these detainees have homes and families in India. A report by India-based Scroll.in found that 20 of the 63 detainees have challenged the order of the Foreigner’s Tribunal declaring them “foreigners” in various courts including the Supreme Court. 

The report tracked down the families of the seven detainees. All of them contested the claim of being foreigners by citing their documents and the presence of their ancestors in India for generations.  “They showed us documents that established they had been living in Assam for decades. They had legacy data which proved their Indian ancestry. They possessed land titles. Their names are featured on voter lists.

They said they had voted in many elections. Six of the seven men even had their names included in the National Register of Citizens updated in Assam in 2019,” noted the report.  Out of 63 detainees, 27 people were sent to the detention centre last year in September. Sirajul Haque, a resident of Barpeta district, was among those held last year, 21 years after he was declared an illegal immigrant.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)