Assam to Drop Cases of Pre-2015 Non-Muslim Illegal Immigrants from Foreigners Tribunals

PTI, GUWAHATI, AUGUST 7, 2025 :  The Assam government has instructed all districts to drop ongoing cases of suspected non-Muslim illegal foreigners entering the state before 2015 from the Foreigners Tribunals, following implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

According to a directive signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Political) Ajay Tewari on July 22, all district commissioners and senior superintendents of police have been asked to review the status of foreigners like Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas.

Top officials held a video conference on July 17 to discuss a host of issues, including those “related to the Foreigners Tribunal with reference to the Citizenship Amendment Act” and issued the directive accordingly. However, it has not been made public yet.

"As per the amendments made to the Citizenship Act, the FTs are not supposed to pursue cases of foreigners belonging to the six specified communities (Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi, and Jain communities), who had entered Assam on or prior to 31.12.2014. It was suggested to drop all such cases. In this regard, the district commissioner and the Senior SPs should immediately convene a meeting with their respective FT members, and also review the developments periodically and submit the action-taken report to this department," said the minutes of the meeting, which were sent to the districts.

It also suggested that all such foreigners should be encouraged and supported for applying for Indian citizenship, as per provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “The Govt of Assam had issued clear-cut instructions for withdrawal of all cases filed against people belonging to the Gorkha and Koch Rajbongshi communities. This should be complied with forthwith,” it said.

As per legal provisions, only FTs can declare a person a foreigner in Assam, and subsequently higher courts can be approached if the verdict is not favourable.

In July last year, the Assam government had asked its Border Police wing not to forward the cases of non-Muslim illegal immigrants entering the state before 2015 to Foreigners Tribunals, and instead advised them to apply for citizenship through CAA.

The Centre had in July 2024 implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.