Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued notice to the state government in connection with a writ petition on the “aribitrary” detention of two brothers from Kamrup district in Assam.
According to Aman Wadud, one of the counsels of the petitioner, a division bench comprising Justice K. R. Surana and Justice M. Nandi issued notice in the case against the “arbitrary arrest of declared foreigners who are apprehending arbitrary and illegal push back”.
The writ petition, filed by Torap Ali, the nephew of the detained duo, has put the focus back on recent drives against suspected foreigners and their reported pushbacks into neighbouring Bangladesh.
“Since May 25, the day they were arrested, the authorities have refused to give details of the whereabouts of brothers Abu Bakkar Siddik and Akbar Ali. During the hearing, the state counsel admitted that Abu Bakkar Siddik and Akbar Ali have indeed been detained and are now in the custody of Assam border police,” Wadud said.
The state government have been asked to obtain instructions as to the status of the detainees and where they have been lodged currently on June 4, the next day of hearing.
The Opposition AIUDF had on Wednesday registered their protest with Assam governor L.P. Acharya against the “continued harassment of Indian Muslims in Assam” under the pretext of identifying and apprehending “so-called illegal foreigners”.
The party said “there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people, especially from the Muslim community, who have been picked up, interrogated and even arrested on mere suspicion of being illegal immigrants” and that too “without credible evidence, legal notice, or proper verification of documents”.
Besides Wadud, senior advocate H.R.A. Choudhury, Dipesh Agarwal, Aniket Mishra, Abdul Motin and Aminur Rahman represented the petitioner.
According to Wadud, the two brothers were out on bail pursuant to two Supreme court orders and did “not” violate the bail conditions.
“The police should not have arrested them. Their arrest and detention is illegal. Secondly, the police have refused to give any details of their whereabouts. Hence, the petition,” he said.
According to the synopsis of the writ petition, both the brothers were asked to appear before the officer in-charge of the Nagarebera police station at 9am on May 25 and were subsequently detained.
The police were “tight-lipped” about their whereabouts, prompting the petitioner and other family members to visit Matia Transit Camp in Goalpara district, where declared and suspected foreigners are kept, but they were told the duo was not there in the camp.
The petitioner’s uncles were detained on December 12, 2017, after being declared foreigners but were subsequently released on April 22, 2020, in pursuant of the Supreme Court’s orders on October 5, 2019, and April 13, 2020.
The petitioner is now “apprehensive” that his uncles will be pushed back into Bangladesh, in light of the recent reports of pushbacks into the neighbouring country.
The petitioner has prayed before the high court that “no coercive action be taken till he has had the opportunity to challenge the opinion dated December 12, 2017 (when they were declared foreigners). Hence, the present writ petition”.