Assam’s Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, announced that eight people from Bangladesh, had entered India illegally were sent back home on October 21, 2025. He’s making it clear that Assam is being strict about anyone crossing the border without permission.
There are 7 wonders of the world and the 8th wonder is illegal infiltrators trying to sneak into Assam and capture our lands.
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 21, 2025
However, the good news is that we won't let these wonders wander around here in Assam anymore.
8 Alices in the Wonderland PUSHED BACK.
Bye ?? pic.twitter.com/YmIiVOtBHH
The Chief Minister used some pretty unique language on social media to make his point, which caught everyone’s attention. He called the infiltrators the “eighth wonder of the world” and said they were trying to take over land in Assam. He basically said these “wonders” aren’t welcome to roam around the state anymore. He even posted, “8 Alices in the Wonderland sent back. Bye.”
This move came just one day after 18 other Bangladeshi nationals were also caught and sent back on October 20. For that action, the Chief Minister used a cricket reference. He compared the deportation to Virat Kohli’s famous “straight drive” shot, calling the move a pushback.
Assam police have been regularly detecting illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh and pushing them back almost immediately for last few months. Assam Govt has also started to use a ‘forgotten’ 1950 law, the Immigrants (Expulsion From Assam) Act, 1950, that allows the administration to deport illegal immigrants without referring them to the Foreigners Tribunals, if they fail to prove Indian citizenship within 10 days.
After the Supreme Court clarified last year that the 1950 law is still valid in Assam, the state govt issued an SOP in September this year for its implementation. As per this, only those cases of illegal immigrants will be sent to Tribunals where the detainees submit documents and the district administration is unable to take a decision based on that.
This SOP allows police to push back immigrants within 12 hours if they are caught crossing the international border. There is no need for any long legal process in such cases.
The government has also ordered that biometric and demographic details of all suspected infiltrators must be recorded on the Foreigners Identification Portal. This will help in monitoring such individuals and making sure they cannot come back easily.
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in October 2024, gave the state full freedom to use the 1950 law for handling infiltration. As per CM Sarma, the provision of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950 was actually forgotten. During hearing on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court said that this Act is still valid. Under its provisions, even a District Commissioner can issue an order for immediate pushback of illegal immigrants.
This ruling cleared the way for the state to take strict action directly through administrative powers. Before this, it was assumed that every case of illegal infiltration has to go through the Foreigners Tribunal. It takes years and decades to resolved through the Tribunal system. But now the Supreme Court has clarified that there is no such requirement, and the administration can directly deport illegal infiltrators.
