‘Foreigners’ in detention camp on hunger strike say they are Indians
Around 160 ‘foreigners’ at the detention centre in the lower Assam district of Goalpara have gone on a hunger strike since Monday. They are demanding that their cases be reviewed by the courts claiming that they are genuine Indian citizens.
“They have been demanding that the courts review their documents,” said Amitava Sinha, the superintendent of police of Goalapara. He added that all of the detainees on hunger strike are those who have been declared as foreigners by the foreigners tribunals. “In some cases, the decision has even been upheld by the High Court,” Sinha said, adding that the detainees were demanding that they be released till the review was done.
Goalpara Detention Centre, housed in the district jail premises is one of the six detention centres in the state. It has around 190 detainees who have been declared as foreigners by the tribunals, according to Sinha.
The process of identification these ‘illegal immigrants’ starts with them being marked as D-Voters in the electoral rolls. The cases are then sent to the tribunals meant to judge whether they are Indians or not. The detainees are required to prove their citizenship failing which they are put in detention centres.
With those declared as non-citizens expected to rise after the National Register of Citizens gets completed, the state government has reportedly allotted 20 bighas of land in Goalpara for a full fledged detention centre.
Activists say there are detainees who have been in the centre for more than eight years. Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said the state would take up the matter of deportation to Bangladesh with the Centre once the NRC process has been completed.
Kiren Rijiju had told Parliament India repatriated 51 Bangladeshis in 2017 as compared to 5,234 in 2013. This number only includes those whose nationality has been verified by the Bangladeshi government. In some cases, the SC upturned the order declaring individuals as foreigners.
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