HT Digital
GUWAHATI, JUNE 5: Two brothers who were arrested by the Assam Police and gone missing after their arrest have been found in a state police battalion in the Kokrajhar district.
This was submitted before the Gauhati High Court on Wednesday while hearing a writ petition filed by their nephew, Torap Ali.
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The two siblings, Abu Bakkar and Akbar Ali, were deemed foreigners by a Foreigners Tribunal in 2017 for their inability to produce documents verifying themselves or their forebears’ presence in India prior to the cut-off date of March 24, 1971, as stipulated in the 1985 Assam Accord.
They were then detained in a goalpara detention camp and afterwards released on bail in 2020, after an order was issued by the Supreme Court for the release of detainees who had been incarcerated for more than two years.
Their recent disappearance started on May 25, when they were allegedly called to the Nagarbera police station. They then remained incommunicado with their family afterward. The petitioner argued that authorities denied any information as to the whereabouts of the brothers, which indicated concerns regarding arbitrary detention and illegal pushback of persons declared foreigners.
On May 29, the Gauhati High Court had served a notice to the Assam government, asking for a reply regarding the whereabouts of the brothers and the reason for their arrest. In the recent hearing, the standing counsel for Foreigners Tribunal cases informed a divisional bench consisting of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Malasri Nandi that the brothers were detained at the Holding Centre of the 7th Assam Police Battalion, Saraikhola, Kokrajhar.
Noting this turn of events, the bench ordered visitation rights for the petitioner to interact with his uncles. The court also asked the government of Assam to file an affidavit stating the reasons for the apprehension and detention of the two persons. The affidavit has to be filed at least a day prior to the next hearing, which is fixed on June 16.
