Frequently asked Questions: Understanding the Citizenship Crisis in Assam Common queries regarding the Assam citizenship conundrum

21, Mar 2024 | CJP Team

1. How many detention camps are there in different districts of Assam now? (Names and districts)

 There are Seven Detention Camps in Assam. Six of these are Designated Detention Camps and one is permanent Detention camps in Assam:

S/N	Detention centre	District	Detainees	Remarks
1	Goalpara	Goalpara	NIL	Designated
2	Kokrajhar	Kokrajhar	NIL	Designated
3	Tezpur	Tezpur	NIL	Designated
4	Dibrugarh	Dibrugarh	NIL	Designated
5	Jorhat	Jorhat	NIL	Designated
6	Silchar	Cachar	NIL	Designated
7	Matia	Goalpara	203	Permanent

                                                                                                                                           

 The ratio of adult male, adult female and child inmates in each of these detention camps is as below:

 There are no detainees in the above-mentioned six designated detention camps. Those who were previously held there have now have been shifted to Matia’s permanent detention camp. And in the Matia detention camp (Transit camp), a total of 203 detainees are lodged, which includes both older and newer detainees.           

Declared Foreign Nationals (DFN):

Male	Female	Children	Total
16	08	Nil	24

Convicted Foreign Nationals (CFN):

Female	Male	Children	Total
70	72	37	179

(Note: On January 29, 2024, the CJP’s Assam Team visited the Matia Detention Centre and obtained the aforementioned data from the Matia Detention centre authorities.) 

2. Have there been any incidents of custodial deaths across the different detention camps?

A total of 29 inmates have died in different detention camps, the details of which are below:

S.No.	Name of the Deceased	Age of the Deceased	Date/Year of death	Detention Camp/Centre	Remarks
1.	Nazrul Islam	45 days old infant	2011	A camp in Kokrajhar	The youngest victim of detention camps, died as his mother Sahida Bibi had been detained.
2.	Bhulu Sadakar	68	March 17, 2016	A camp in Cachar	Resident of Hailakandi, died after having spent about 5 months in detention.
3.	Amir Ali		May 24, 2016	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Barpeta, died after having spent a day in detention.
4.	Dulal Miya	35	June 16, 2016	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Samarganj, died after having spent 4 days in detention.
5.	Prabha Roy	70	September 29, 2016	A camp in Kokrajhar	Resident of Barpeta, died after having spent 9 months in detention.
6.	Santosh Biswas	75	March 2, 2017	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Nagaon, died after having spent about 1.5 years in detention.
7.	Abdul Kuddus Ali	60	July 16, 2017	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Lakhimpur, died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
8.	Hussain Ali	45	August 28, 2017	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Sonitpur, died after having spent about a year in detention.
9.	Kabutar Basfor	65	September 6, 2017	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Sonitpur, died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
10.	Abu Shahid		October 22, 2017	A camp in Goalpara	Died after having spent 7 months in detention.
11.	Tazimuddin		October 30, 2017	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Lakhimpur, died after having spent about a year in detention.
12.	Rashid Ali	86	November 22, 2017	A camp in Jorhat	Resident of Golaghat, died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
13.	Sundar Moni Roy	75	March 4, 2018	A camp in Cachar	Resident of Hailankandi, died after having spent about 1.5 years in detention.
14.	Subrata Dey	37	May 26, 2018	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Goalpara, died after having spent barely 2 months in detention.
15.	Nagen Das		June 1, 2018	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Myamansingh (Bangladesh), died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
16.	Siddique Ali	65	June 26, 2018	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Kamrup, died after having spent barely a month in detention.
17.	Jabbar Ali		October 4, 2018	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Udalguri, died after having spent about a year in detention.
18.	Khakan Mandal	68	October 8, 2018	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Chirang, died after having spent about 1.5 years in detention
19.	Sashi Mohan Sarkar	85	December 9, 2018	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Chirang, died after having spent about 1.5 years in detention
20.	Jakir Hussain	41	January 25, 2019	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Sonitpur, died after having spent about 2.5 years in detention.
21.	Ismail Ali Talukdar		March 30, 2019	A camp in Cachar	Resident of Dima Hasao, died after having spent about 2.5 years in detention.
22.	Amrit Das	67	April 6, 2019	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Barpeta, died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
23.	Basudev Biswas	55	May 11, 2019	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Sirajganj (Bangladesh), died after having spent about 4 years in detention.
24.	Suruj Ali	70	June 6, 2019	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Nagaon, died after having spent about a year in detention.
25.	Puna Munda	65	June 10, 2019	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Goalpara, died after having spent 3 years 5 months in the detention.
26.	Falu Das	70	October 24, 2019	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Nalbari, died after having spent about 2 years in detention.
27.	Dulal Chandra Paul	65	October 2019	A camp in Tezpur	Resident of Sonitpur, died due to illness in a Guwahati Hospital, was lodged in detention for 2 years.
28.	Naresh Koch	55	January 3, 2020	A camp in Goalpara	Resident of Goalpara district, died after suffering a paralysis stroke. He was taken to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital.
29.	Jamal Uddin	60	On January 11, 2022		Resident of Bangladesh’s Sylhet, died due to illness.

3.Were any of the aforementioned custodial deaths due to suicide?

None of the 29 deaths reported above were a result of suicide.

4. How many deaths by suicide or natural deaths have happened on account of Citizenship Crisis in Assam since 2017?                                                   .

Here is an updated list as of March 2024.

 

5. How many Foreigners’ Tribunals are operating in different districts of Assam now?

There are a total of hundred (100) Foreigners’ Tribunals operational in different districts of Assam.

6. How many people have been “detected as foreigners” by Foreigners’ Tribunals since the year 1966?

The various sets of data collected and collated by the CJP Assam Team are as follows:

• Detected to be foreigners: As per an affidavit submitted by the Union Government to the Supreme Court on December 11, 2023, it has been provided that a total of 32,381 (thirty-two thousand three hundred eighty-one) individuals have been “detected to be foreigners” by Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) in Assam since 1966. [1]
• Indians and Foreigners: A question was raised by Sherman Ali Ahmed (MLA, INC) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of people that have been declared Foreigners by the FTs and the number of those that have been deported. This question was raised on July 14, 2021.As per the response submitted by the State Government, as of April 30, 2021, a total of 1,18,616 people had been declared as Indian. On the other hand, a total of 1,39,900 persons had been declared as foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals. In addition to this, the state government also provided in its reply that 321 foreigners had been deported.

• ‘D’ voters and Declared Foreigners: A question was raised by Kamlakhya Dey Purakayastha (MLA, INC) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of people that have been declared Foreigners by the FTs and the number of people who have been declared as ‘D’ (Doubtful) voters. This question had been raised on December 24, 2022.In response to this question, the State Government provided that as of October 31, 2022, a total of 1,00,315 people had been declared as ‘D’ voters (Doubtful) voters in Assam. Additionally, the total number of Declared Foreigners is/was 1,50,875.

• ‘D’ voters and Declared Foreigners: A question was raised by Abdur Rashid Mandal (MLA, INC) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of people that have been declared Foreigners by the FTs and the number of people who have been declared as ‘D’ (Doubtful) voters. This question had been raised on March 20, 2023.Responding to the query, the State Government provided that as of February 1, 2023, the total member of D voter in Assam are 99,942.

Significantly, the data provided by the State Government also stated that as many as 15,151 persons were declared as Indians in the ‘D’ Voter cases (Notices issued by the Assam Border Police) while 33,033 persons were declared as Foreigners in the period between January 1, 2017 and February 1, 2023.

It is essential to note here that after the decision of the FT is delivered, each individual has the right of appeal up to the Supreme Court.

• Declared Foreigners and deportations: A question was raised by Akhil Gogoi (MLA, Independent) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of people that have been declared Foreigners by the FTs and the number of people who have been deported to foreign nations. This question had been raised on September 11, 2023.As per the data provided by the State Government, it was stated that a total of 1,31,649 (DFN+CFN) were declared foreigners in the period between 2001 to 2023. In addition to this, 3,100 persons had been deported to foreign nations from Assam in the period between 2001 to 2023.

The details are below:

S/N	YEAR	DFN +CFN	DEPORTED
1	2001	1766	551
2	2002	2356	342
3	2003	1538	306
4	2004	971	262
5	2005	1058	213
6	2006	860	171
7	2007	1069	144
8	2008	3257	172
9	2009	3531	171
10	2010	2898	122
11	2011	3014	152
12	2012	3308	66
13	2013	3791	22
14	2014	3822	24
15	2015	40725	01
16	2016	5096	13
17	2017	15541	26
18	2018	26823	65
19	2019	24209	87
20	2020	4355	69
21	2021	6392	33
22	2022	8400	63
23	2023	3522	25
	Total	131649	3100

 

7. How many cases have been disposed of by the Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam so far?

The various sets of data collected and collated by the CJP Assam Team are as follows:

• As per an affidavit submitted by the Union Government to the Supreme Court on December 11, 2023, it has been provided that till October 31, 2023, a total of 3,34,966 cases had been disposed of by the 100 FTs operational in Assam. In addition to this, the affidavit stated that a total of 97,714 cases remained pending in the FTs. Furthermore, it was also stated that till December 2023, 1,8,461 cases arising out of FTs had been pending before the Gauhati High Court.
• A question was raised by Sherman Ali Ahmed (MLA, INC) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of cases disposed of by the FTs. This question had been raised on July 14, 2021.As per the response submitted by the State Government, it was provided that as of April 30, 2021, a total of 298471 FT cases had been disposed of by FT. Meanwhile, the data also stated that 136173 cases remained pending in FT till April 30, 2021.

• A question was raised by Abdur Rashid Mandal (MLA, INC) during the Assam State Assembly session regarding the number of the total number of cases that remained pending before the Foreigners’ Tribunals. This question had been raised on March 20, 2023.Responding to the query, the State Government provided that since January 1, 2017 till   February 1, 2023, a total of 1,05,826 remained pending before the FTs. On the other hand, a total of cases 1,41,553 had been disposed of between the same period.8. Apart from the 19 lakh people who have been excluded from the NRC, are there any other/additional numbers who have been excluded from citizenship (Declared Foreigners and D Voters)?

The figure of the ones excluded from the NRC is approximately 19,06,657. The same generally includes victims of D voter, and FT cases since most of them have also applied for the inclusion in the NRC.

Every week, CJP’s dedicated team in Assam, comprising community volunteers, district volunteer motivators, and lawyers, provides vital paralegal support, counseling, and legal aid to many affected by the citizenship crisis in over 24 districts in Assam.  Through our hands-on approach, 12,00,000 people successfully submitted completed NRC forms (2017-2019). We fight Foreigner Tribunal cases monthly at the district level.  Through these concerted efforts, we have achieved an impressive success rate of 20 cases annually, with individuals successfully obtaining their Indian citizenship. This ground level data ensures informed interventions by CJP in our Constitutional Courts. Your support fuels this crucial work. Stand with us for Equal Rights for All #HelpCJPHelpAssam. Donate NOW!

[1] Citizens for Justice & Peace cjp.org.in is an intervenor in the case where some parties have challenged the constitutional validity of Section 6 of the Citizenship Act of 1955.

[2] Citizens for Justice & Peace cjp.org.in is an intervenor in the case where some parties have challenged the constitutional validity of Section 6 of the Citizenship Act of 1955.

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