Sc refuses to entertain plea over assam deportation drive - the statesman

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea alleging that the Assam government had launched an indiscriminate and sweeping drive to deport individuals suspected to be foreigners

to Bangladesh, and directed the petitioner to approach the Gauhati High Court for relief. A vacation bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the All BTC Minority

Students Union (ABMSU) to pursue appropriate remedies before the High Court, noting that it was not inclined to entertain the matter under Article 32 at this stage. Advertisement The

petitioner organisation ABMSU claimed that in the aftermath of the Court’s earlier February 4, 2025, order which had permitted the deportation of 63 “declared foreigners” whose Bangladeshi

nationality had been confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Bangladesh government, the state had gone “far beyond the mandate” and initiated a blanket deportation

campaign. Advertisement The plea alleged that the Assam government had launched a “sweeping and indiscriminate” deportation drive, targeting persons suspected of being foreigners without any

judicial declaration, nationality verification, or exhaustion of legal remedies, particularly in the border districts of Dhubri, South Salmara, and Goalpara. It further submitted that the

state government was engaging in extrajudicial “push backs” of individuals — many of whom belong to marginalised communities — in violation of their fundamental rights under Articles 14 and

21 of the Constitution. “This policy of push back—being executed in the border districts—is not only legally indefensible, but threatens to render stateless numerous Indian citizens,

especially the poor and marginalised who were either declared foreigners ex parte or lacked access to legal aid,” the petition stated. The petitioner organisation had also sought directions

declaring that deportation without judicial process, MEA clearance, and exhaustion of legal remedies was unconstitutional, and requested a stay on ongoing deportations. The top court,

however, refused to intervene and said that the Gauhati High Court was the appropriate forum for seeking relief in such matters. Advertisement