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Assam govt renames ‘foreigner’ detention centres to ‘transit camps’
Sources in the government, on condition of anonymity, stated that the decision was made by the state’s second BJP-led government headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma in order to make the detention centres sound humane
The Assam government has renamed detention centres, which house persons declared foreigners or suspected to be illegal immigrants, as transit camps.
A notification in this regard, issued on August 17 by Niraj Verma, principal secretary, home and political department, mentioned that the “nomenclature of detention centre is changed to transit camp for detention purpose”.
Sources in the government, on condition of anonymity, stated that the decision was made by the state’s second Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma in order to make the detention centres sound humane.
“This is just a change of name and nothing much needs to be read into it. Detention centres sound like concentration camps, while in reality they are not. Hence, it order make it sound more humane, the name was changed,” said a senior official.
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At present there are six detention centres located inside Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Goalpara, Jorhat, Tezpur and Silchar jails.
A new facility meant exclusively for those declared foreigners by foreigners’ tribunals or those suspected to be illegal immigrants that can house nearly 3,000 inmates is nearing completion at Matia in Goalpara district.
“Transit camp means it’s a place where people stay temporarily and leave. The government has to clarify how changing the name of detention centres to transit camps affect the detainees or the legality behind the change in nomenclature,” said Bobbeeta Sharma, media in-charge of Congress in Assam.
Most detainees in the detention centres are from Bangladesh. But since India doesn’t have any repatriation treaty with the neighbouring country to take back Bangladeshis found staying illegally in India, there’s no surety on how long the detainees have to spend in the centres or how they will be sent back.
Last month chief minister Sarma, who holds the home portfolio, told the state assembly that the detention centres house 181 inmatest. Twenty persons housed in these centres have died due to various causes since 2009, he said.
Of the 181 detainees, 61 have been “declared foreigners” by tribunals, and the rest convicted by courts for various crimes (they would be deported once their prison sentences are over).
The detainees include nine women and 22 children who are housed in the centres at Kokrajhar, Silchar and Tezpur. Of the children, 20 are below 14 years of age, the CM informed the House.
The government had notified detention centres in 2009 to house people “declared foreigners” by tribunals till they are deported. The centres were created inside jails as a temporary measure till a permanent place was constructed or found to keep them.
Following a Supreme Court order in 2019, 273 “declared foreigners” who had spent three years or more in the detention centres were released on bail. Another 481 who had spent two years in the centres were released following another Supreme Court order the next year.
The CM stated that over 136,000 cases are pending in foreigners tribunals, while nearly 300,000 cases have been disposed of. The tribunals have declared nearly 140,000 people foreigners while 118,616 have been acknowledged as Indians.
