GUWAHATI: The
Congress has asked the state government to take immediate steps to ensure that people lodged in detentions camps after being declared foreigners get an opportunity to prove their citizenship.
Talking to the media on Saturday, senior party leader and former minister
Pradyut Bordoloi said the government should also look into charges of human rights violations of detainees who are mostly poor and illiterate. "It has been found that these poor and illiterate people are not aware of the fact that they had to physically appear before the foreigners' tribunals on time when they are summoned. As a result, they are declared foreigners. There are allegations that these people are then dragged to detention camps," said Bordoloi.
Chandradhar Das (102), a resident of Borai Basti in Karimganj district who suffers from multiple ailments, had to spend almost three months in a detention camp in Silchar before he was released on bail recently. Various organizations in the
Barak Valley had made a fervent plea about his health condition. Das was given the opportunity by the tribunal to submit his documents related to citizenship.
Similarly, Anna Bala Ray (50), a Rajbongshi woman of Purba Engakarabari village in
Chirang district, was lodged in a detention camp in Kokrajhar on June 23. Anna Bala was also released on bail on Thursday after her family petitioned the tribunal to give her an opportunity to prove her citizenship.
"There is a need to provide legal aid to the detainees so that they can prove their citizenship. The government should take appropriate measures to help them. There is also the need to improve the facilities inside detention camps, especially in those where women detainees are kept," said Borodoloi.
There are six detention camps with an estimated 1000 detainees kept there after being declared foreigners.
A report by civil rights activist Harsh Mandar pointed out that there is hardly any distinction between detention centers and jails and between detainees and ordinary inmates as there is 'no clear legal regime governing the rights and entitlements of detainees.' It added that the fate of an overwhelming majority of persons, who were deemed to be foreigners and were detained in detention camps, was on the basis of ex-parte orders by the tribunals.
