Guwahati, May 15: The All India United Democratic Front today sought the intervention of chief minister Tarun Gogoi to stop police harassment of people on suspicion that they were Bangladeshis.

AIUDF chief and MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal met Gogoi this morning along with four newly elected MLAs of his party and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister.

Ajmal, in the memorandum, demanded an immediate halt on the lifting of suspected Bangladeshi nationals from their homes and referring their cases to the Foreigners Tribunals for trials in a random manner.

“The chief minister’s intervention has become urgent considering the fact that the police have started picking up several people suspecting their citizenship from the minority-dominated areas and are sending them to the detention camps without giving them the minimum opportunity to prove their nationality. Such cases have been rising alarmingly since the beginning of this month and the suspected foreign nationals have been told that they would have to be lodged in detention camps till their trials were over in the tribunals,” Ajmal said.

He said the AIUDF has found cases where people were being sent to detention camps even after having all relevant documents to prove their Indian citizenship. He said such acts were gross violations of human rights and goes against the very ethos of natural justice.

Ajmal said cases of picking up suspected foreigners were on the rise after a recent verdict by Gauhati High Court on detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi nationals.

“Once a person is declared an illegal Bangladeshi national, he should be immediately arrested and kept in a detention camp and thereafter deported. Immediate steps should also be taken for deletion of his/her name from the voter list,” a Gauhati High Court order on April 21 said, while dismissing a writ petition filed by four petitioners, who were declared illegal Bangladeshi migrants by the then Illegal Migrants (D) Tribunal, Hojai, on June 17, 2005.

AIUDF general secretary Jenat Mollah said the police have misinterpreted the verdict and were sending suspected Bangladeshi nationals to the detention camps even before their trials were completed in the foreigners tribunals.

“If a suspected illegal migrant is sent to the detention camp, how will he or she get the chance to prove his or her citizenship before the foreigners tribunals? It is sheer violation of natural and human rights. The government must intervene and stop such harassment,” he said.

Mollah said the scrutinising committees must be constituted police station-wise to verify ones’ citizenship status before referring cases to foreigners tribunals and putting “D” (doubtful or whose citizenship in doubt) tag on a person.

Commenting on Ajmal’s contention, Himanta Biswa Sarma said Gogoi had told the AIUDF leader the government had already moved the court on the issue of “D” voters. The chief minister asked the AIUDF delegation to pursue the matter, put up good lawyers and fight the case and not just do politics on the issue.