Assam Police detains several residents on suspicion of being undocumented migrants

The Assam Police on Sunday detained several residents of the state on suspicion of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh. Many of them were released more than 15 hours later, once their documents were verified.

The detention drive began on Saturday night and continued till Sunday morning, mostly in the Muslim neighbourhoods of Guwahati, including Hatigaon, Sijubari, Ghoramara and Sonapur.

Additionally, the border police also arrested several people from Golaghat, Dhubri, Barpeta and Cachar districts who have been declared foreigners in the past by foreigners’ tribunals, their family members and lawyers told Scroll.

The police are yet to confirm the number of detentions. However, a senior police official told Scroll that the “number of people picked up is well below 100”.

The official added that the detentions were part os a countrywide operation to detect the “illegal immigrants”.

“Document verification is going on,” said the official. “No one has been arrested yet. The drive stems from the security situation..why should we keep the foreigners [in the country].”

A sub-inspector posted in the Hatigaon police station told Scroll that the detentions were made after a Union government order.

He was referring to directions from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, asking states and Union Territories to verify the details of persons suspected to be Bangladeshi and Myanmarese nationals within 30...

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