The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to provide the details of the functional detention centres in Assam and the foreigners detained there during the last 10 years.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also asked the authorities to apprise it of the year-wise details as to how many illegal immigrants, after being declared so by the Foreigners Tribunal functioning in Assam, were deported to their native countries in the last decade.
“We would like to know as to how many detention centres are there in Assam. We also want to know as to how many persons are lodged there and since when,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Harsh Mander through advocate Prashant Bhushan on the plight of foreigners in detention centres. The plea alleges that they are kept in detention indefinitely just because they are not Indians and are treated as “illegal aliens”.
During the brief hearing, the bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to inform it whether those detained in the detention centres were declared as foreigners or were they still facing the proceedings before the tribunals.
The bench also said foreigners could not be kept in detention centres after being declared so by tribunals if the Centre had not been able to arrive at a settlement with the countries where they were to be deported.
“You can ask the neighbouring countries to accept their natives, but you cannot keep them in detention centres for all the times,” the bench observed.
“The basic question is how many people have been declared foreigners and how many have been deported back and how many of them are still there,” it added.
The court also sought the year-wise details of foreigners who had illegally entered India during the last 10 years.
The solicitor general, who sought time to file the details after taking instructions, said presently, there were six functional detention centres in Assam.