Heard and discussed with the head of Chintan India at today's meeting of
www.ashanet.org/dc
http://www.chintan-india.org/public_html/our_initiatives_research_advocacy.htm
They educate children - who might be born in India.
Is this a solution?
Umesh
The Drive in Delhi
http://www.amanpanchayat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=112
Starting from Operation Push Back in 1993, thousands of Bengali-speaking
Muslims have been picked up from various working class settlements all over
Delhi and forcibly pushed inside Bangladesh. It has never been clearly
established whether these persons were actually from Bangladesh or not. Many
recent examples from various parts of Delhi have come to light that Indian
citizens from West Bengal and Assam, working as rag pickers in Delhi, were
being routinely arrested on the charge of being illegal immigrants. An
association of concerned citizens, voluntary groups, activists, and lawyers
then decided to examine the process of deportation of people to Bangladesh, and
a systematic study was conducted between August and December 2004.
The study team consisted of members of Chintan Environmental Research and
Action Group, Bal Vikas Dhara, Aashray Adhikar Abhiyan, Aman Trust, and Hazards
Centre. During the study over 50 persons were interviewed and fifteen detailed
case studies were prepared (see Annexure 1) . The study team visited the
respective police stations, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, and
the place of detention to record the processes of arrest, documentation,
nationality determination, detention, and deportation. Some cases were
individually followed up within the limitations of the teams capacities. In
addition, considerable research was undertaken into the national and
international laws governing citizenship, immigration, and deportation. This
report details the observations and conclusions of the study.
Identification of Bangladeshis
The Action Plan drawn up in May 1993 by the Government of the National Capital
Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the deportation of illegal migrants, vests the
local police with the job of detection and identification of illegal migrants.
The local police, already over-burdened, undertakes this task through a network
of local informers, often from within the communities that are targeted, who
provide information about suspected illegal migrants. Thus, at the very outset,
the Action Plan lies enmeshed in a system that easily lends itself to
corruption and manipulation.
The interviews undertaken by the team clearly indicate that these Informers
wield considerable clout in the locality and all Bengali-speaking Muslims are
required to keep them in good humour. Failure to meet the Informers demands -
for money or otherwise - could mean loss of nationality. The findings also
revealed that, in practice, identification by the Informer was the first and
final determination of nationality. The police relied solely and absolutely on
the Informers word. All pleas and submission of proof by the detainees - of
authoritative documents issued by agencies of Delhi Government or the Union
Government - invariably fell on deaf ears.
It was also seen that there was no scrutiny or enquiry undertaken when
documentary proof was submitted. These could range from ration card, election
card, school certificate, affidavit from the village panchayat, to certificates
from the MLA or MP. In a few cases, these documents were torn up by the state
authorities, on the specious grounds that they were false and fabricated. Thus,
it can be concluded that the Government of India has delegated its sovereign
function of identification and deportation of illegal migrants, in the
interests of national security, to a few assorted Informers.
Detention and Arrest
The study revealed that the raids, detention and arrests were conducted in
marked contrast to the provisions laid down by the Supreme Court and the
Constitution. The guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in its landmark
judgment in 1997, in D.K.Basu v State of W.B. , regarding arrest, were observed
only in their breach. Even if the citizenship of the persons being arrested and
detained is uncertain, they still enjoy the protection of the Fundamental
Rights enshrined in Article 14 and 21, which provide that no person shall be
deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established
by law, and was upheld by the Supreme Court (in Chairman, Rly. Board v
Chandrima Das [(2000)2 SCC 465]). But, in direct contravention of the law, the
raids included swoops on the so-called illegal migrants in the dead of night
and rounding up of men, women and children from their bastis . People were not
even given enough time to get dressed properly or collect their
documents. During other times, families, including minors, caught in the raid
were forced to face the situation alone, without being re-united with their
families.
While the Governments own Action Plan requires that the local police records
the statements of two independent witnesses, none of the people interviewed
during the course of the study had ever seen the police secure this
corroborative evidence. On the contrary, many complained of being beaten and
threatened when they began to plead their case. The SHO and ACP then routinely
signed these poorly prepared cases. All pleas and entreaties of the detainees
for a hearing were effectively silenced by physical assaults and verbal abuse.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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