SC criticises Assam government for failure to deport foreigners from detention centre

The Supreme Court on Wednesday criticised the Assam government for failing to explain why foreign nationals were being held in detention centres in the state instead of being deported, reported The Times of India.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a petition in connection with the deportation of 270 foreign nationals detained in the Matia transit camp in Assam’s Goalpara district, PTI reported.

The court said that it had granted the state government six weeks on December 9 to file an affidavit and had expected it to provide reasons for detaining the foreign nationals in the camp, along with details on the steps taken for their deportation.

However, the affidavit filed by the state government was defective, the bench said.

“The affidavit does not give any justification for detaining…steps taken to deport are not set out,” PTI quoted the bench as saying. “This is gross violation of orders of this court.”

The fundamental right to life applies not only to citizens but to everybody, including foreigners, the court said, adding that immediate action should be taken to deport the 270 persons to their countries, The Times of India reported.

The court also ordered the chief secretary to appear virtually at the next hearing with an explanation.

During the hearing, the counsel representing the…

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