The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on June 2 a plea filed by a 26-year-old man, Iunuch (Yunus) Ali, alleging the illegal detention of his mother, Monowara Bewa, by Assam Police amidst growing concerns of clandestine deportations to Bangladesh.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, along with Justices Augustine George Masih and A.S. Chandurkar, took note of senior advocate Shoeb Alam’s urgent submissions seeking immediate intervention in the matter. Alam, appearing for Ali, informed the court that Bewa was taken into custody on May 24 after being summoned to Dhubri police station under the pretext of providing a statement.
Ali’s petition claims that his mother’s detention is unlawful, especially in light of the fact that her case remains pending before the Supreme Court since 2017. “There is a Special Leave Petition filed by the lady in 2017. Notices have already been issued. Yet individuals are being deported even while legal proceedings are underway before this court,” Alam said.
Raising broader concerns, the senior counsel told the bench that Assam Police have allegedly adopted a practice of detaining individuals declared as foreigners and deporting them overnight. “There are several videos circulating that show individuals being picked up overnight and pushed back across the border,” he said.
Monowara Bewa had earlier been granted conditional bail on December 12, 2019, following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the release of detenues who had spent more than three years in Assam’s foreigner detention camps. Despite this, Ali alleges that police denied him access to his mother when he visited the Dhubri police station and refused to acknowledge the pending status of her Supreme Court case.
The plea challenges a 2017 Gauhati High Court order that upheld a Foreigners Tribunal’s ruling declaring Bewa a foreign national. The challenge to that declaration is still under consideration by the apex court.
Ali has sought the immediate release of his mother and requested the court to restrain the authorities from deporting or “pushing back” her across any Indian border until the legal process is fully concluded.
The matter is now scheduled for hearing on Monday, June 2.
