NEW DELHI, 15 July 2005 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday set up a group of ministers (GoM) to study Tuesday’s ruling of the Supreme Court striking down the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act.
The group will hear the views of various parties and advise the government on what to do next, Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters after a 90-minute meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs here.
The Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the controversial Illegal Migrants Act, which the opposition had termed as a tool to delay identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
Patil said that the court ruling on the issue was being examined “very carefully” by the home and the law ministries for “proper and further action.”
“This is a matter on which people have expressed their views differently,” he said, adding the government had decided to hear all shades of opinion before “deciding finally as to what has to be done.”
Asked whether the government would file a petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court verdict, he said no decision has been taken on this.
The three-member Supreme Court bench criticized the IMDT Act of 1983, blaming it for insurgency and describing the problem of illegal migrants as external aggression. The political fallout of the decision is already being felt in the northeastern state of Assam with the BJP celebrating the verdict.
The BJP reaction confirms the key political role the act has played in the state’s politics for over two decades. The party says this act protected illegal Bangladeshi foreign nationals as it put the onus of proving a person as an illegal migrant on the complainant. This is in sharp contrast to the Foreigners Act used in the rest of the country where the onus is on an accused illegal migrant to prove his bona fides.
The Supreme Court made it clear that there cannot be different standards for different parts of the country.
The BJP, however, claims that a different standard applies to Hindu migrants. “Hindu migrants are not foreigners. There is another law which protects them,” said a senior BJP leader.
The abolition of the act has worried Muslims who have called a general strike today. “Let there be a process set in by which the minority will not be harassed,” said Haroon Al-Rashid, leader of a minority front. “Our appeal is to the state and center to issue photo identity cards for those who came to the state before March 25, 1971, and let their names be added in the national register of citizens,” he added.
For its part, the Assam government says it will ensure genuine citizens are not harassed.
