The camp is the state’s first centre to completely home “illegal foreigners”, constructed as per pointers laid down by the Centre. Until now, the detainees have been lodged in six “detention centres” throughout Assam — all inside jails.

Government sources stated those that have been moved to the centre embody each individuals declared “foreigners” by Foreigner Tribunals in Assam in addition to these convicted by judicial courts for violating visa provisions.

“Sixty-eight people, which includes 45 men, 21 women and two children, have been moved. They were detected as foreign nationals,” stated Barnali Sharma, Inspector General of Prisons, Assam.

Of the prevailing six ‘detention centres’, two are in district jails (Kokrajhar and Goalpara) and 4 in central jails (Tezpur, Silchar, Dibrugarh and Jorhat). According to state authorities information, as of September 2022, the six centres collectively held 195 detainees. In 2021, in a “a bid to humanise detention centres”, the Assam authorities modified the nomenclature to “Transit Camp for detention purpose”.

The Matia Transit Camp, nestled between farmlands and forest, occupies 20 bighas, and was constructed on a funds of over Rs 46 crore, with a capability to accommodate “up to 3,000 illegal foreigners”.

“The infrastructure is ready and a skeleton staff is in place. For those people who are moving, they will have whatever facility is needed… the district and police administration provided escorts for the movement,” Sharma (IG, Prisons) informed The Indian Express.

The transfer to switch the detainees follows an order by the Gauhati High Court in November final 12 months directing the federal government to make the Matia camp operational. The courtroom order was in response to a batch of habeas corpus petitions, which challenged the detention of convicted and declared overseas nationals inside prisons/jails of Assam. Challenging the notifications by which jails had been transformed into detention centres, the petitions sought the discharge of the detainees. The petitions had been filed in 2020 by a workforce of attorneys and activists, facilitated by Studio Nilima, a analysis collective.

The authorities has usually been criticised for the poor dwelling situations within the six jails, the place the detainees had been lodged.

Since November 2022, the Gauhati HC has been urging the federal government to shift the individuals to Matia. On November 17, a bench of then Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court R M Chhaya (now retired) and Justice Soumitra Saikia had stated that the transit camp was “ready for habitation”, and directed the state authorities to make “temporary arrangements for medical, para-medical and security staff”.

Senior authorities advocate D Nath then informed the courtroom that “medical facilities as well as the required security arrangements were” but to be made.

During one other listening to, on November 29, Justice Chhaya stated that the detainees ought to be shifted earlier than December 15, 2022. In response, Advocate General of Assam D Saikia stated that whereas the state authorities had taken a “conscious decision” to make the Matia Transit Camp operational, it needed “more time to deploy necessary security personnel”. The following hearings, on December 20 and January 27, had been adjourned. The subsequent listening to is slated for February 28.

A Home division official, on situation of anonymity, stated that the delay in shifting the detainees was as a result of they hadn’t employed employees to run the camp, although the constructing was prepared. “The premises has a school, a creche and medical facilities. We had to create posts for all these facilities…that is why it took time,” he stated, including that the federal government employed from completely different departments to place collectively the employees to make the centre operational.

Activists in Assam have criticised the federal government’s transfer, saying detention centres are meant for “convicted foreigners”. However, most of the people who find themselves being shifted are solely “declared foreigners” (declared as such by Foreigners Tribunals), who can enchantment to greater courts to show their Indian citizenship, and probably get their identify cleared. They stated that shifting the “declared foreigners” to the centre at Matia would quantity to their indefinite incarceration, as there exists no bilateral framework for deportation to Bangladesh.

The variety of detainees at these centres have gone down through the years following Supreme Court interventions — in 2019, the apex courtroom ordered that ‘foreigners’ who’ve spent greater than three years in detention might safe conditional launch on the fulfilment of sure situations. In 2020, to stop congestion in jails as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, the SC ordered conditional launch on bail of these ‘foreigners’ who had accomplished over two years in jail.