Assam government to release foreigners detained for more than 3 years
Guwahati, July 31 (IBNS): Following directive by the Supreme Court, Assam government has decided to release ‘declared foreigners’ lodged in detention centers in the state for over three years.
Assam government has issued a notification to release the declared foreigners who have spent more than three years in detention centers in the state, conditions for which have been set by the Supreme Court.
It is a significant move taken by the government ahead of the publication of final NRC on Aug 31.
According to the reports, the Political (B) department of Assam government has issued a notification on July 29 which has added some provisions for conditional release of declared foreigners from detention centers.
The government notification stated that the state government may release declared foreigners who have completed more than three years in detention centers with the conditions as – execution of bond with two securities of Rs 1 lakh each of Indian citizens, he or she specifies verifiable address of stay after release, biometric of his or her iris (if possible) and all ten figure prints and photos shall be captured and stored in a database before release from the detention centres, he or she shall reportonce every week to the police station specified by the Home and Political department, he or she shall notify any change of his or her address to the specified police station on the same day, a quarterly report to be submitted by the Superintendent of Police (Border) to the Home and Political department regarding appearance of such released declared foreigners to the concerned police station.
In case of violation of condition, the declared foreign national will be apprehended and detained in the detention centre.
There are presently 938 detainees lodged in six detention centers – in district jails in Goalpara, Kokrajhar and central jails in Tezpur, Silchar, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.
A top official said that, among them 335 are eligible for release and 25 detainees who died of illness in the detention centers.
On May 10, the Supreme Court ordered that, the foreigners who have completed more than three years in detention camps be released - if they furnish a bond with two sureties of Rs lakh each of two Indian citizens, give details of the address where they will stay after release and provide biometric details, they have to report once a week at a police station specified by the foreigners’ tribunal that heard their case.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals now in functioning in Assam to detect illegal foreigners.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
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