Terming as “extraordinary” the
situation of Bengali-Hindu migrants in Assam, the Supreme Court on Friday
agreed to examine a plea to grant refugee status to them.
“We are
not underestimating your concerns, considering the current situation in the
state... we understand it is not an ordinary issue,” said a Bench of Justices P
Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi.
M N
Krishnamani and Pinky Anand, counsel for the petitioner, NGOs Swajan and
Bimolangshu Roy Foundation, told the court that more than two lakh immigrants
in Assam have been denied benefit of the proviso to Section 2 of the Immigrants
(Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, which bars Foreigners’ Tribunal from
deporting from Assam persons “who on account of civil disturbances or fear of
such disturbances in area forming part of Pakistan has been displaced from and
has left his place of residence in such area and who has been subsequently
residing in Assam”.
“Moreover,
it is not a problem afflicting only Assam. Some other eastern and north-eastern
states are also affected by this,” the counsel added.
The Bench
said the petitioner should also implead these states and come back to the court
for redressal after two weeks.
The court
had initially asked the petitioner’s counsel to approach the High Court for a
“more effective consideration” but they argued that citing a recent High Court
order, the authorities were pushing out most of the migrants without granting
them the benefit of the proviso.
“The
present dispensation in the state has resorted to targeting both genuine
citizens and also the ‘displaced persons’ belonging to the Bengali-Hindu
community in Assam. These persons... are being apprehended and pushed back to
no-man’s land along the Indo-Bangladesh border and left to die there,” the
petition said.
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