Supreme Court Declines to Hear Assam's 'Push-Back' Policy', Recommends High Court Forum
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court has refused to hear the petition filed against the action of sending 69 people back to Bangladesh under the 'push back' policy of the Assam government. The court has directed the petitioner to file a petition in the Guwahati High Court. This petition was filed by the All BTC Minority Students Union, in which serious allegations have been made against the Assam government.
The petition claims that the Assam government is detaining people as foreigners without due process of law and sending them across the Bangladesh border. Especially poor and deprived Indian citizens living in border areas are being forcibly detained without any investigation or hearing. The petition states that many times Indian citizens are also being mistakenly considered foreigners and sent across the border, which is a violation of their fundamental rights.
The petitioners had sought directions from the Supreme Court to the government to conduct a proper hearing by the Foreign Tribunal before declaring anyone as a foreign citizen.
Also, no one should be sent across the border until they are given a chance to appeal and their citizenship is confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs. The petitioners say that the actions being taken under the 'push back' policy of the Assam government are not transparent and many innocent people are being affected by this.
The Supreme Court directed to take the matter to the Guwahati High Court and said that the petitioners can present their case there. The court refused to intervene immediately in the matter, due to which the petitioners will now have to raise their demands in the High Court.