Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday announced in a special one -day session of the Assam Legislative Assembly that the state government has decided to bring into action to “return” the 1950 Act to “Bangladesh back”, which without going to any district collectors through the existing system of foreigners for foreigners, finding foreigners as foreigners. The CM claimed that the state was given the right to do so by the Supreme Court.
He said that it would be implemented in addition to the “pushbacks” of those who have been declared foreigners by tribunals of foreigners (FTS); In the last few weeks, about 330 such declared foreigners have been pushed into Bangladesh.
Speaking in the Assembly, Sarma mentioned the Supreme Court’s October 2024 verdict, in which the majority of the five-member constitutional bench headed by the then Chief Justice Dye Chandrachud retained the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which makes a cut-off date for citizenship in Assam on 24 March 1971.
“Four judges said that 1971 is the date of cut-off. But one thing has repeatedly said that those brought after 1971 should not be spared in any way. They have to be deported … In that judgment, the Supreme Court has given a comprehensive power to the Assam government. It is said that if the DC says that this person is a foreign state, then it can be removed from the state of Assam.
“By the order of the Supreme Court, every Deputy Commissioner is empowered to evict anyone that he feels that he is a foreigner. This is the law of land … This power is given by the Honorable Supreme Court to the state of Assam … It says in the Act itself that it will not apply to those who came like religious persecution,” he said.
Sarma was speaking after several opposition MLAs, including Congress leader and opposition leader and opposition Debrata Saikia and AUDF MLA Ashraful Hussain, spoke in length in the assembly during zero hours and special mentions are being worried that these pushbacks are happening, in many examples, “acting” against Indians.
“These pushbacks will be intensified. Because the way Pakistani elements have entered our state, the radical elements of Bangladesh have entered, to save themselves, the state will have to be more active than before. That is why the state government has decided that we are in illegal action, and whatever DCS feels, we will take back it.
The story continues below this advertisement
Sarma’s statements created an uproar in the assembly, in which opposition legislators questioned the validity of the works. Congress MLA Zakir Hussain Sikdar asked on what basis the DCS would identify “foreigners” under this course of action, to which Sarma replied, “DC will have to be satisfied about it.” This attracted more opposition, with Sikdar shouting, “It cannot be the system.”
Speaking in the assembly after Sarma, the leader of the opposition Saikia said that the Act in the question “does not mention anything about pushbacks”.
“We are a situation in India and in Parliament, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that it is the responsibility of all countries to take back their citizens if they are found illegally alive abroad. This, however, is subject to a clear verification of their nationality. It is only an accepted principle in India. They and they have to prove them.” He said.
He said that even when the Act was first introduced in 1950, it did not remain in force for a very long time. “The task they are talking about was used in Assam for only a few days because at that time, it invited trouble for many Bengali Muslims and an old resident was asked to leave his residence in the upper Assam city within a few days, Nehru was furious and was nothing on April 10.
Currently system and 1950 act
The story continues below this advertisement
Under the current system in the state, “foreigners” is identified and announced through foreign tribunals (FTS).
FTs are semi-judicial bodies that determine if a person presents to them-usually referred to by the border police or listed as ‘de-Voters’ in the electoral role-one is “foreign” or an Indian citizen. Those who declare foreigners by these tribunals have the option to appeal against the order by reaching the Gauhati High Court and the Supreme Court.
One of the 13 questions that were implicated by that constitutional bench, and they were deliberately done, whether the immigrants (expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 as migrants of a special enforced qualification in Assam, can apply to East Pakistan/Bangladesh migrants alone to exclude general foreigners (tribal) orders, 1964. “
In the judgment, after maintaining the validity of Section 6A, the court issued a set of six directions, one of which was: “The provisions of immigrants (expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 will also be read in section 6A and will be effectively employed for the purpose of identifying illegal immigrants.”
The story continues below this advertisement
The Immigration (Assam from Assam) Act, 1950 started from March 1, 1950 and said that if any person was an ordinary resident of a place outside India and entered Assam, and the central government is “opinion … that in Assam, such a person or a class of individuals in Assam can be specified from India or Assam within such a time and from such a passage. It states that the central government can hand over this power to the Central Government or any official of the Assam government.
,
