Holding ‘irregular foreigners’ in detention centres across prisons, often indefinitely, is not uncommon in Assam, human rights organisation Amnesty says.
As of data on 25 September, more than a 1,000 people were held in detention centres across the state, a documentary released by Amnesty India on Friday, 23 November, says.
The documentary – Between Fear and Hatred: Surviving Migration Detention in Assam – claims that many of those detained in such centres did not know what their crime was and why they had been separated from their families.
The release comes months after Assam had published its final draft of the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) on June 30, which had excluded the names of 40 lakh applicants.
The documentary, which is based on studies, goes on to trace the history of the anti-migrant agitation through the 1985 Assam accord, and the situation of those detained at the 100 Foreigners Tribunals across the state.
Kismat Ali, a former detainee, talks about over-crowding and the horrors of living in such centres.
Amnesty India Chief Aakar Patel says the Assam government should remember that the constitutional right to life and personal liberty applies to all people, including migrants. Detention centres must be used as the last resort, he says.
The documentary also says that the process of updating Assam’s National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in December will only add to the detainees’ uncertainty. According to a report by the IndiaSpend, there have been at least 16 reported instances of people committing suicide for the fear of losing their citizenship.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)