SC refuses to entertain petition against Assam ‘pushing’ back declared foreigners to Bangladesh

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition challenging the Assam government “pushing” back to Bangladesh persons who have been declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunals in the state, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and SC Sharma was hearing a petition filed by the All BTC Minority Students Union, which claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state was arbitrarily pushing Indian citizens to Bangladesh without following due process under the guise of deporting undocumented migrants.

“Why are you not going to the Gauhati High Court?” PTI quoted the bench as asking advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appeared for the All BTC Minority Students Union. In response, Hegde said that the petition was based on an order passed by the top court earlier.

The advocate also said that the union would withdraw the petition and take recourse before the High Court. The Supreme Court then allowed him to withdraw the petition.

The petition came against the backdrop of a surge in detentions of declared foreigners in Assam since May 23. Families say they have no information on their relatives’ whereabouts. Some of them have identified their missing relatives in videos from Bangladesh, alleging they were forcibly sent across the border.

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