Declared Foreigners Getting Better of Police

GUWAHATI: Declared foreigners – who entered Assam between 1966 and 1971 and evaded their registration with FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) – giving police the slip is a cause of concern.

Such foreigners getting the better of the police in this hide-and-seek game is because of the lack of a monitoring mechanism to nab such foreigners soon after their declaration by the Foreigners Tribunals.

Apart from the cut-off date of March 24 midnight, 1971, the Assam Accord has another cut-off period. Bangladeshis who entered Assam between 1966 and March 24 midnight of 1971, according to the Assam Accord, were to get themselves registered with the FRRO. The Accord has a condition that such people would not figure in the electoral roll for ten years from the date of their registration with the FRRO. However, according to a compilation made by the State Home Department, 15,636 people – who had entered Assam from Bangladesh during that period and were declared as foreigners by foreigners tribunals – opted not to get themselves registered with the FRRO. A sad reflection on the episode is that since then such people have been giving police personnel the slip. A modus operandi they often use is changing their locations and getting enrolled in the electoral roll in new locations. And they do it with success because the monitoring mechanism to follow foreigners so declared by FTs in the State is not free from lacunae. From time to time, the State Home and Political Department asks the police to nab such people, but the rate of arrest is very negligible.

According to the State Home Department, Hojai district has the highest number of 4,232 foreigners of the 1966-1971 stream evading registration with the FRRO. It is followed by Nagaon with 2,903, Morigaon with 1,879, Darrang with 1,028, Tinsukia with 1,012, Kokrajhar with 590, Karimganj with 583, Dhemaji with 466, Sonitpur with 457, Lakhimpur with 455 foreigners etc.

The offices of the FERRO are scattered all over the State – one in every Office of the Superintendent of Police.