Author: R Dutta Choudhury
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: March 7, 2001
Less than 15 per cent of the persons
declared as foreigners by the tribunals under the Illegal Migrants (Determination
by Tribunals) [IM(DT)] Act can be deported from Assam as the provisions
of the Act are loaded heavily against the police personnel engaged in the
job of detecting and deporting foreigners. According to records available,
during the period from 1985 to November last year, the Border police wing
of the Assam Police initiated 319109 inquiries under the IM(DT) Act and
314519 of the inquiries were completed. The police referred 307407 inquiries
to the screening committees and 43255 cases were referred to the tribunals.
During the period, the tribunals disposed off only 18184 cases, declaring
10181 persons as illegal migrants. But only 1491 of them could be expelled
from the country. During the same period, 24707 fresh and re-infiltrators
were pushed back from India.
Giving reasons for the failure to
expel all those declared foreigners by the IM(DT) Tribunals, official sources
pointed out that the provisions of the Act are loaded in favour of the
illegal migrants. Sources pointed out that under the provisions of the
Act, the police can serve a notice to a person declared as an illegal migrant
by the IM(DT) tribunals asking him to 'remove himself from the country"
within a period of 30 days. During the period, it is almost impossible
to keep the person declared as a foreigner under surveillance because of
lack of adequate manpower and during the period, the person declared as
a foreigner can shift to another place. There were instances, where the
persons declared foreigners by the IM(DT) tribunals even changed their
names, and under such circumstances, it is almost impossible to detect
them.
Sources said that as per the IM(DT)
Act, the onus of proof lies on the complainant and one has to pay a fee
to lodge a complaint. Under the present situation, one cannot expect a
person living in the border areas to lodge a complaint and if an illegal
migrant gets into the country, it is almost impossible to detect him. Moreover,
as per the provisions of the Act, the police is not empowered to seize
any document or raid premises of the suspected illegal migrants. Moreover,
from the records it is quite evident that the IM(DT) tribunals are not
functioning properly as the cases are not being disposed off on time. However,
sources said that a proposal has been mooted to appoint Judges from the
lower courts in the tribunals to overcome the difficulty of delivering
judgements due to shortage of Judges in the tribunals.
Official sources said that as per
the Assam Accord, the foreigners who came to Assam during the period from
1966 to 1971 should be detected and defranchised for a period of ten years
and they have to register themselves with the FRROs. According to records
available, the Border police initiated more than five lakh cases during
the period from 1986 to November last year under the Foreigners Act and
only 9856 persons registered themselves with the FRROs, while, only 24,789
names have been sent for deletion from the electoral rolls. Another problem
the Border police is facing in deporting the illegal migrants from Bangladesh
is that they have to be deported through the gates in Mankachar in Dhubri
district or through Sutarkandi in the Barak Valley. Sources pointed out
that very often the police have to face serious problems in transporting
the illegal migrants to these two points for their deportations as it involves
manpower and money.
It may be mentioned here that the
Union Home Minister, LK Advani, during his recent visit to Assam, also
admitted that the IM(DT) Act, which is applicable only in Assam, is discriminatory.
But at the same time, he said that the BJP could not repeal the Act because
it did not have the majority in the Rajya Sabha. The Assam Government,
in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, also gave a detailed account
of the problems faced by the police in detecting and deporting foreigners
from the State because of the IM(DT) Act and stressed the need for repeal
or substantial amendment of the Act. However, the All Assam Students Union
(AASU), which has been fighting for the scrapping of the Act, is not willing
to accept the statement of the Union Home Minister and the AASU adviser
Samujjal Bhattacharya recently alleged that till date, the Central Government
has not even initiated any move for repealing the Act. He said that if
the Central Government can pass the finance bills in the Rajya Sabha, there
was no harm in trying to gather the support of the other political parties
for repealing the IM(DT) Act as the issue of infiltration of foreigners
is related to the integrity of the country.
