Waiting for muhurat?: Supreme Court pulls up Assam govt for not deporting 63 foreigners

The top court pulled up the Himanta Biswa Sarma government asking whether it was waiting for some "muhurat (auspicious time)" to deport the foreigners.

Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan asked the Assam government to deport the 63 people who were kept at detention centres after they were found to be foreigners through the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The top court lashed out at Assam after the state counsel said the addresses of the foreigners in their own countries were not known causing the delay in deportations.

Justice Oka said as quoted by NDTV, "You deport them to the capital city of the country. Suppose the person is from Pakistan, you know the capital city of Pakistan? How can you keep them detained here saying their foreign address is not known?"

"You know the status of their citizenship. Then how can you wait till their address is received? It is for the other country to decide where should they go," the bench said.

Justice Bhuyan said, "Once you declare a person as a foreigner, you must take the next logical step. You can’t detain them forever. Article 21 is there. There are many foreigner detention centres in Assam. How many have you deported?"

Justice Oka has also questioned the state as to why it didn't reach out to the External Affairs of India seeking help.

Justice Oka also slammed the state government for suppressing facts to which Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who was representing Assam, said he spoke to the highest authority of the executive and apologised for "some lacunae".

"We will issue a perjury notice to you. You are supposed to come clean," Justice Oka said.