70,000 Declared Illegal Migrants Vanished In Assam, The Supreme Court threatened to issue a non-bailable warrant against Assam Chief Secretary Aloke Kumar
By Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati : 70,000 declared illegal migrants vanished in Assam and this was formally informed before a shocked Supreme Court today by Assam Government through an affidavit. Making a complete mockery of the anti-immigrant works, Assam Government today admitted that they have no idea where 70,000 declared foreigners of Assam are. The Assam government admitted that 70,000 declared foreigners by the various tribunal are untraceable now. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
This is a shocking development which only blows a hole in the Assam Government action about infiltration especially when BJP kick up a storm over the issue. “Forget detecting new one, even the declared foreigners are now missing, which only shows the government has no intention to resolve the issue and the BJP is even more non-serious,” said Mr. Azizur Rahman, Adviser of the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU).According to Mehta, the tribunals had determined them foreigners but before they could be sent back, they “merged” with the locals in the state.
This angered the top court and wondered how such a huge number could vanish. “If this can happen to the declared foreigners than what will happen to the lakhs who are under trial” the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed. The SC is also angry for not having the Chief Secretary on the court. “There has to be a reason why we wanted the chief secretary to remain present. But he is not here. Should we issue a non-bailable warrant against him?” the CJI asked Mehta. “Your government is playing around with the orders of this court. Your affidavit is an exercise in futility.
Despite all your non-cooperation, we can pass orders under our constitutional powers. Should we do that?” the Chief Justice said. Mehta, on his part, requested the bench to hear the state on this aspect and assured that the state was doing its best to deal with the problem of illegal migrants in Assam. This is noteworthy that on an earlier date, the bench had sought statistics from the Assam government on a number of illegal migrants declared foreigners and those deported.The Supreme Court threatened to issue a non-bailable warrant against Assam Chief Secretary Aloke Kumar.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, however, refrained from passing the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the Chief Secretary will be present for the next hearing on April 8. The Supreme Court was hearing a case relating to the detention centres in Assam.
In its order, the bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said that the Solicitor General undertook that the Chief Secretary of Assam would be personally present in the court on the next date fixed for hearing and would remain present in the court until required. “On this undertaking, we refrain from passing any coercive order,” the bench order said. The case relates to the living conditions of foreigners in Assam detention centres. The Supreme Court decided to look into the matter, particularly the issues relating to the living conditions and the long periods for which foreigners are detained in the centres. Today, CJI Gogoi asked the Solicitor General for details about foreigners who have merged with the local population. “We want to know what you are doing to improve the conditions in detention centres. How long will you take to deport them? What is your government planning to do to trace those people who have merged with the local population?” CJI Gogoi asked.
