Assam invokes 1950 Expulsion Act, orders five ‘foreigners’ to leave

The Assam government has used the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, for the first time and five “declared foreigners” have been asked to leave India within 24 hours.

The Sonitpur district administration in Assam has issued orders to the people who were declared foreigners by the foreigners tribunal in 2024. The Assam government had approved the implementation of the Act earlier this year.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the Assam police said that five people who were identified as residents of Dhobokata village are currently “absconding”.

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 number 2 in 2006. After years of pendency, the tribunal this year declared them “foreigners.”

In the order, the deputy commissioner stated that the continuous presence of the “foreigners” 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.

The order further says that if the “foreigners” fail to comply, an appropriate action will be taken against them.

“They are absconding and their whereabouts are currently not known. We are searching for them, and once they are located, we will take appropriate action as per law,” Sonitpur senior superintendent of police Barun Purkayastha was quoted as saying by The Indian Express