In the first known use of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, since the Assam cabinet approved its implementation earlier this year, the Sonitpur district administration has issued orders directing five persons, “declared foreigners” by a tribunal in 2024, to “remove” themselves from India within 24 hours.
Police said on Thursday that the five individuals, identified as residents of Dhobokata village, are currently “absconding,” The Indian Express reported.
Local residents told the newspaper that the families left the village more than a decade ago and have not been seen since.
According to the expulsion orders, signed by Deputy Commissioner Ananda Kumar Das, the border police had referred cases against the five, comprising four women and a man from two families, to the Sonitpur Foreigners Tribunal No. 2 in 2006. After years of pendency, the tribunal this year declared them “foreigners.”
The DC stated in the order that their continued presence in Assam “is detrimental to the interest of the general public and also for the internal security of the state.” Invoking the 1950 Act, the orders instructed them to leave Indian territory “within 24 hours” via the Dhubri/Sribhumi/South Salmara–Mankachar route, which leads to Bangladesh.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
