New Delhi: Even as Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is sharpening his ‘Bangladeshi’ rhetoric against the Bengali-origin Muslims of the state and carrying out eviction drives that are affecting the community, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has empowered the foreigners’ tribunals (FTs) functioning in the state to detect 'illegal immigrants' along with the power to issue arrest warrants and send anyone who cannot provide proof that they are not foreigners to the holding centres under the new Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.

As many as 100 FTs are functioning in the border state. Earlier, people who would fail to provide such a proof of Indian citizenship at the FTs were sent to detention centres through executive orders.

However, as per a notification issued this September 1, FTs have been granted the powers of a first class magistrate with powers to issue arrest warrants. This order replaces the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964.

Significantly, the notification has come just two days after Union home minister Amit Shah visited the poll-bound state in which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to contest the assembly polls in early 2026 on the bogey of ‘illegal immigrants’, ‘Bangladeshi’ and ‘Pakistan’ supporters, to attract the majority Assamese votes.

During his visit to Guwahati this August 29, Shah supported Sarma government’s eviction drives, saying that his party would "reclaim land from illegal encroachers”.

He also said, “Leaders who repeatedly visit Pakistan cannot lead Assam”, hinting at Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi’s visits to the neighbouring country.

As per news reports, the MHA’s notification stated that the FTs “shall have the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) and the powers of a judicial magistrate of the first class under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sahita, 2023 (46 of 2023) in matters including – (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document; (c) issuing commissions for the examination of any witness; (d) directing the proceedee to appear before it in person; (e) issuing a warrant of arrest against the proceedee, if he fails to appear before it.”

Though the notification is applicable across the states, only Assam presently has these tribunals which are quasi-judicial bodies that hear cases of suspected foreigners brought in by Assam Border Police.

MHA order bars foreigners in certain private undertakings

After the update process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was completed in Assam in 2019, the citizenship of as many as 19 lakh applicants came under a cloud. All such persons would have to approach the FTs to prove that they are not foreigners.

The MHA’s order also bars employing foreigners “in private undertakings that are engaged in the supply of power or water, in the petroleum sector, in the fields of defence, space technology, nuclear energy and human rights without the central government’s nod”, said The Hindu.

The report underlined that a foreigner may be refused entry or stay in India, “if he is convicted on charges of anti-national activities, espionage, rape, and murder, crime against humanity, terrorist and subversive activity…human trafficking, racketeering in fake travel document and currency (including crypto currency) cyber crime, child abuse or found involved in such offences.”

The MHA’s order notifying the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, which was passed in April 2025, however, exempts citizens of Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and Sri Lankan Tamils.

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