From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) has demanded a slew of measures to make the process of detection, detention and deportation of foreign nationals by foreigners’ tribunals “fair and neutral”.
Addressing media persons here on Saturday, AAMSU advisor, Azizur Rahman alleged that in wake of apparent anomalies in the foreigner detection process of late, there have been several instances of Indian nationals being wrongfully declared as foreign nationals and harassed over the years, the latest instance being the case of Md Sanaullah, a war veteran who had served Indian Army for 30 years.
“Therefore, in order to make the process clean and unbiased, we demand that the foreigners’ tribunals be converted from a quasi judicial to a fully judicial body with appointment of permanent members in the tribunals. Besides, an appellate authority should be created in case any person wants to appeal against a decision of the foreigners’ tribunal,” Rahman said.
There are currently about 100 foreigners’ tribunals in Assam and to share the burden of cases, 200 more are being constituted in accordance with a High Court directive. The students union further demanded re-amendment of two sub-clauses, 10 and 17 under Clause 3 of the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, which was renamed as Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019 as per a gazette notification on May 30, 2019.
“The sub-clause 10 allows the tribunal to call a hearing based on the merit of the records produced by the person, which we do not agree. Then sub-clause 17 provided tribunals the power to regulate its own procedure for disposal of cases expeditiously in a time-bound manner, which is not acceptable as it leaves scope for tribunal members to act on their own. So the two sub-clauses should be re-amended after discussions with AAMSU and other organisations,” Rahman said.
The students union demanded a uniform code (Foreigners Tribunals Procedure Code) on the lines of Civil Procedure Code/Criminal Procedure Code to be adhered to by the foreigners’ tribunals in dealing with the cases.
“If these demands are not paid heed to, AAMSU would be compelled to stage a series of agitation across the state. In the primary stages, the union will be submitting memoranda to the chief minister, chief secretary, Union home secretary, Chief Justice of India (Supreme Court) and Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court. Besides, we will be holding protest rallies in every district before July 31, 2019,” he said.
The union has also decided to hold a series of awareness meetings and road shows in minority-inhabited areas of the state to sensitize people against superstitions, practice of child marriage, polygamy and other social ills from June 19 onwards.