Supreme Court clears release of long-detained foreigners

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that those foreigners who have spent over three years in detention centres in Assam can be released on two Indian sureties of Rs 1 lakh each, but such released foreigners will have to report to local police stations to ensure that they do not abscond.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi passed the orders on a petition filed by activist Harsh Mander drawing attention to the fundamental right of a detenue to life and liberty. He had said that incarceration for the lifetime of a person was not in accordance with constitutional guarantees.

In orders passed on May 10, which was uploaded Monday on the court’s website, the bench said that the detenues must surrender his or her biometrics to the detention centre authorities, provide the address where they would be available and report to the police station specified by the foreigners’ tribunal.


The detenue will also inform any change of address to the police the same day. The court directed the SP (border) to submit a quarterly report to the foreigners’ tribunal on whether the detenues so released were reporting to the police station or not.