'Are you waiting for muhurat?': Supreme Court directs Assam govt to deport illegal immigrants

The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the government of Assam for not taking measures to deport illegal immigrants from the state.

The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government heard an earful from the SC bench consisting of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan which asked if they are waiting for “muhurat” to deport the 63 people currently held in detention centre.

It directed the government to carry out the process of deportation as the state updates the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“You know the status of their citizenship. Then how can you wait till their address is received? It is for the other country to decide where should they go," said Justice Oka. He also said that the Assam government is “suppressing facts” to which the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta said that he has spoken to the highest authority and apologised for “some lacunae".

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The state council emphasised that the government has “no intention to hide” to which Justice Oka said, “Of course, there is. Why have you not given the dates on which verification took place? The affidavit is defective.”

Justice Bhuyan said, “Once you declare a person as a foreigner, you must take the next logical step. You can’t detain them forever. Article 21 is there. There are many foreigner detention centres in Assam.”

SC’s earlier ruling on immigrants in Assam

Last year in October, the apex court said that all Bangladeshi migrants who entered Assam via the India-Bangladesh border on or after March 25, 1971, are illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court, at the time, stated that, due to their severe negative impact on the state’s culture and demographics, the Union and state governments must accelerate the process of identification, detection, and deportation.

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How many illegal immigrants are there in Assam?

Last year, CM Himanta Sarma said that 47,928 illegal immigrants were detected in the state during the period between 1971 and 2014 and out of them 43 per cent are Hindus.

According to the state government data, out of a total of 20,613 Hindus declared as illegal immigrants by the Foreigners’ Tribunals, 8,139 were from Cachar district, 2884 from Guwahati city, 1574 from Lakhimpur district, 1038 from Dibrugarh district.