The BJP-led Assam government has started using the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to speed up the removal of people declared as foreigners. In a major development, the Biswanath district administration has issued orders to two Bangladeshi women, directing them to leave India within 24 hours.
This move comes amid renewed efforts by the state government to activate the law, which had remained unused for many years, to deal with cases of illegal immigration.
On 20th December, the Biswanath district administration issued expulsion orders to two women, Asmul Khatun and Afuja Begum. According to official records, both were declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunals in Biswanath district in 2005, nearly two decades ago.
The orders state that, as declared foreign nationals, their presence in India and in the state of Assam is considered harmful to public interest and internal security. Invoking the 1950 Act, the administration directed them to remove themselves from Assam and India within 24 hours of receiving the order. The route mentioned for leaving the country includes the Dhubri, Sribhumi or South Salmara-Mankachar corridors, which are commonly used for deportations towards Bangladesh.
Biswanath Superintendent of Police Ajagwran Basumatary confirmed that both women are currently in custody at the Matia transit camp in Goalpara district. “They are under detention, and their deportation is in process. It will be carried out after we receive clearance from the Border Security Force,” he said.
Earlier action in Nagaon district
Just days before the Biswanath orders, similar notices were issued to 15 people from Nagaon district on 17th December. These individuals had been declared foreigners by tribunals in different years, ranging from as early as 1990 to as recent as 2021.
Remove yourselves from India in 24 hours: Assam – relying on dormant 1950 Act – gives ultimatum to 15 people https://t.co/VI5qR1id1k
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) December 18, 2025
Nagaon Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka said the 15 people are currently lodged at the Matia detention centre, and the deportation process is underway. District officials had earlier confirmed that they were moved from the detention camp on 19th December and taken towards the Bangladesh border, though there is still no official confirmation about their present location.
The orders were issued by Nagaon Deputy Commissioner Devasish Sharma. Each order refers to the tribunal verdict that declared the individual a foreigner and notes that their continued stay in Assam and India is against public interest and state security. The notices also give a 24-hour deadline and specify the same exit routes mentioned in the Biswanath cases.
Sharma said that many of these individuals had approached the High Court after being declared foreigners, but their pleas were not accepted. “They will be removed in due course of time under the supervision of the district police,” he said.
First use after SOP approval in Sonitpur
The first known use of the Act after the cabinet cleared its implementation was reported from Sonitpur district. There, the district administration issued expulsion orders to five people who had been declared foreigners by a tribunal earlier this year.
The orders directed them to leave India within 24 hours. However, police later said that their whereabouts are unknown and that they are absconding. Local residents claimed that the individuals, including four women and one man, had left the area long ago and had not been living there for more than ten years.
The government push behind the move
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been openly supporting the use of the 1950 law for several months. In June, he said the government planned to use the Act to push people back into Bangladesh if district commissioners found them to be foreigners at first glance, without waiting for cases to go through the Foreigners’ Tribunal system.
With orders now being issued in districts like Nagaon, Biswanath and Sonitpur, the state’s renewed reliance on the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, marks a major shift in how Assam is handling long-pending cases of people declared foreigners.
What the 1950 Act says
The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, was enacted soon after Partition to address migration from the then East Pakistan into Assam. The law gives the central government the power to direct any person who usually lived outside India and later came to Assam, either before or after the Act came into force, to leave the state or the country.
If the government believes that such a person’s stay is harmful to the general public, any section of society, or the Scheduled Tribes in Assam, it can issue an order asking them to remove themselves within a fixed time and through a specified route.
Although the law has existed for over seven decades, it has remained largely unused. In September this year, the Assam cabinet approved a Standard Operating Procedure to implement the Act, bringing it back into active use.
