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Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
HC issues notice to Assam govt to provide details on 'declared foreigners'
Guwahati, The Gauhati High Court has issued notice to the Assam government directing it to provide details on the whereabouts of two brothers, declared foreigners by a tribunal, and on the ''arbitrary arrest of declared foreigners who are apprehending illegal push back''. A Division bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Malasri Nandi on Thursday directed the state government to give details about the whereabouts of Abu Bakkar Siddik and his brother Akbar Ali who were detained by the officials of the Nagarbera police station in Kamrup district on May 25. The court has posted the next date of hearing on June 4. The court was hearing a writ petition filed by the duo's nephew Torap Ali who claimed that his family apprehends both his uncles ''may be in danger of being illegally pushed into Bangladesh''. The petitioner claimed that the authorities have refused to give details of the whereabouts of the two brothers since May 25 when they were called to the police station. During the hearing, the state counsel J Payeng said that Siddik and Ali have been detained and are now in the custody of Assam Border police. In 2017, the brothers were sent to the detention camp in Goalpara after they were declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal as they failed to provide documents to prove that they or their forefathers had come to the country before March 24, 1971, the cut-off decided by the 1985 Assam Accord. They were released on bail in 2020 following the Supreme Court's directive that those who are in detention for over two years may be released on bail. The petitioner claimed that the two men did not get an opportunity to take recourse to all legal remedies available to them under the law and to ''push back before such determination is conclusive amounts to arbitrary deprivation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution''. Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners Order of 1964. These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of foreigners in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant. The Foreigners Order, of 1964, is applicable nationwide. The Foreigners Tribunals are primarily associated with and functioning in Assam, particularly in the context of the National Register of Citizens and related issues. There are 100 Foreigners Tribunals across the state.
Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Bombay HC orders immediate release of Yemeni national ‘detained in police station' for overstaying in India
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered immediate release of a Yemeni national detained by the Mumbai Police for overstaying in India and questioned how he could be detained in the police station. Prima facie, the court found that there was no supporting provision in law which would enable the authorities to detain him at a police station and as per authorities, there are no detention centres made available by the government. The court also stressed on the need for Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to handle cases of overstaying under the Foreigners Act and also questioned the lack of proper detention facilities in the city for such purposes. It also raised a question on how the man was detained without a formal order and who would have been held responsible in case anything untoward happened to him during the detention period. A vacation bench of Justices Gauri V Godse and Somasekhar Sundaresan passed an order while hearing an application by one Mohammed Qassim Mohammed Al Shibah, a former employee of Yemen Airlines, who claimed that he was illegally detained in the Byculla police station premises. He said in December 2023, the high court had granted relief to another person in a similar case. The applicant said the petitioners, including him, are refugees from Yemen registered under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose visas expired in September 2015. Deportation orders were issued against six members of his family that included three minors. The plea claimed that Al Shibah travelled to India between 2002 and 2015 and when the civil war broke out in Yemen, he and his family had sought asylum in India. The applicant, through advocate Weseley Menezes, said since he was illegally detained earlier this month on May 16, he approached the high court with an interim application in a petition filed by the family that challenged various orders passed against them under the Foreigners Act, 1946. The application seeking interim release contended that the respondent authorities would not be entitled to detain him in a police station as there are no other allegations against him except for 'overstay' in India. Menezes claimed that his client was not a threat to public order and that the family, which had been granted refugee status until August 2027, was in the process to resettle in Canada and the same required another 12 months in India. However, advocate Purnima H Kantharia, representing the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Mumbai, Additional Commissioner of Police, Special Branch- FRRO along with Union Home and External Affairs ministries, opposed the plea. She referred to Section 3 (2) (e) of the Foreigners Act and Foreigners Order, 1948, and said that the same provides the central government the powers to make orders regarding foreigners. The bench noted that the applicant had entered India on a diplomatic passport with valid permission and was working in India and there were no criminal antecedents against him. 'Prima facie, we do not find that the provision of the Foreigners Act would be of any help to detain him in a police station,' the HC noted. It added that the Foreigners Order provides powers to impose restrictions on movement related to place of residence, therefore, there was no supporting provision to detain him in the police station. 'We do not find any reason why he should continue to remain in Byculla police station,' the bench remarked. It directed the applicant present in the court to be immediately released from the custody of respondents and that he shall not leave Greater Mumbai without seeking the court's permission. The bench said there was no reason that the police or FRRO could seize the applicant's passport without following any procedure and asked Kantharia to hand over his original diplomatic passport to his lawyer. The HC sought affidavits in reply by respondent authorities to the main petition and the interim application within two weeks, followed by petitioner's rejoinder, and posted further hearing to June 16.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Time of India
49 foreigners deported from Goa since Jan
Panaji: A total of 49 overstaying foreigners have been deported by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), Goa, since Jan 2025. These include 14 males and 35 females. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Of the 14 males deported by FRRO Goa , four were from Russia, eight from Bangladesh, and one each from Uganda and Nigeria. Out of the 35 females, 15 were from Uganda, 14 from Bangladesh, four from Russia, and one each from Britain and Ukraine. Of the 49 illegal immigrants/foreigners deported to their home country, 14 were deported during April 2025. Five of these were male, including three from Russia and two from Bangladesh. Nine were female, including four from Uganda, two each from Russia and Bangladesh, and one from Ukraine. 'The action against overstaying immigrants will continue considering the security prospects of our nation,' FRRO superintendent of police, Arshi Aadil, told TOI . Aadil said that accommodation providers are requested to submit C-forms on the online portal in respect of the foreign nationals within 24 hours of their arrival in their accommodation and to effect cross-entry of their departure on the online portal once they depart from their accommodation. The FRRO SP also stated that the general public is requested to report any overstaying foreigners noticed in their locality to the nearest police station for appropriate action. Timely reporting will go a long way in maintaining law and order and peace in the state of Goa, she said. Goa police have established a detention centre at Mapusa. Police said that those people found to be involved in illegal activities and overstaying are lodged in the detention centre, and FRRO starts their deportation process . Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Police said that in some cases, deportation takes a long time due to the verification of documents. Last month, Goa police arrested Israeli national Yaniv Benaim, alias Atala, an alleged drug dealer, for allegedly staying in Goa without valid documents. The accused person was found staying in Goa/India without valid travel documents, thereby contravening the provisions of the Foreigners Order, 1948, and the Foreigners Act, 1946. Last year, police launched a special drive to act against those foreign nationals who were overstaying in the state without proper documents.
