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A notice was issued by the Supreme Court on Thursday pertaining to the petition demanding a direction to the authorities to ensure humane treatment of those detained in the detention centres in Assam. The bench, comprising of Justice MB Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, also directed for an Intervention Application, raising similar concerns, to be tagged along while advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioner.
The State of Assam has had a checkered history of dealing with the influx of migrants from other parts of India and neighboring countries, especially erstwhile East Pakistan, and now Bangladesh. The upgradation of National Register of Citizens in accordance with the Assam Accord (August 1985) was undertaken, under the monitoring of the Apex Court, after being confronted with the problem of alleged “illegal” immigrants.
Meanwhile, the Government of Assam has been engaged in detaining such individuals, who have been declared as foreigners by Foreigners Tribunals, within the detention centres, pending their deportation, ensuring that they don’t perform the act of vanishing.
Through the petition, filed by Mr. Harsh Mander, founding member of campaign AmanBiradari for secularism, peace, and justice, enforcement of fundamental rights under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India are being pursued for the individuals being held. He seeks redressal for the violation of fundamental rights and internationally recognized human rights of the detainees, currently held in six such centres. The reason behind the detention of such individuals is either because they have been declared as foreigners by one of the one-hundred Foreigners Tribunals in Assam or they are pending deportation after serving out their sentence for illegally entering India. He asserts the detention of these individuals, in inhuman conditions, without access to adequate work, recreation, parole, family visits and in deprivation of their rights to health, education, legal aid and appeal, as a violation of Article 21 rights of such detainees.
The petition also submits that the absence of a formal agreement between the government of India and the government of Bangladesh on deportation and repatriation of declared foreigners who are identified by Foreigners Tribunals as Bangladeshis and kept in detention, their confinement is indefinite, arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 21. The petition is primarily based on the report, preparedby Mr. Mander, for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) himself which contains the findings of “deplorable conditions” in such centres. The petition further points out the nonexistence of a clear procedure for deportation of an individual. While the petition notes that the legal basis according to which the Government of India has authorized the Government of Assamfor such detention stems from Section 2 and 3(2)(e) of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Para 11(2) of the Foreigners Order, 1948, arbitrary detention is, however, violative of Articles 14 and 21. Additionally, the petition also demands certain safeguards for juveniles in immigration detention, as well as seeks strict adherence to various international law principles, treaties and conventions for such detention.
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