However, after investigating him as a suspected illegal foreigner in 2008-09, the Border wing lodged a “reference” case against him at a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT). They followed the procedure as required after an FT order,” he said. There are six detention camps in Assam — housed in jails at Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Silchar — and they hold 1000-odd “illegal foreigners”. “The families of many of these detainees do not have the funds to contest the FT order in high court. Last month, the Supreme Court allowed the conditional release of persons lodged at detention centres for being “illegal foreigners” in Assam.

Source: Indian Express June 10, 2019 23:14 UTC