The Crossbill News Desk
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has vested sweeping powers in the foreigners’ tribunals (FTs) operating in Assam, enabling them to not only detect ‘illegal immigrants’ but also issue arrest warrants and send those unable to prove their citizenship to holding centres under the new Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.
The development comes at a time when Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has intensified his ‘Bangladeshi’ rhetoric against Bengali-origin Muslims and carried out eviction drives disproportionately affecting the community.
At present, 100 FTs function in the state. Previously, individuals unable to furnish proof of Indian citizenship at these tribunals were sent to detention centres through executive orders.
However, a notification issued on September 1 grants the FTs the authority of a first-class magistrate, including powers to issue arrest warrants. This notification replaces the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964.
The timing of the order is significant, arriving just two days after Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to poll-bound Assam, where assembly elections are due in early 2026. During his August 29 visit to Guwahati, Shah endorsed the Sarma government’s eviction drives, declaring that his party would “reclaim land from illegal encroachers.”
Taking a swipe at Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi, Shah added, “Leaders who repeatedly visit Pakistan cannot lead Assam.”
The notification said that FTs “shall have the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) and the powers of a judicial magistrate of the first class under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sahita, 2023 (46 of 2023) in matters including – (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document; (c) issuing commissions for the examination of any witness; (d) directing the proceedee to appear before it in person; (e) issuing a warrant of arrest against the proceedee, if he fails to appear before it,” Hindustan Times reported.
Though the order is applicable nationwide, only Assam currently operates these tribunals, which serve as quasi-judicial bodies adjudicating cases of suspected foreigners referred by the Assam Border Police.
The new measures follow the 2019 completion of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update in Assam, which left the citizenship status of 19 lakh applicants in doubt. Those excluded are required to approach the FTs to prove their citizenship.
The MHA notification also restricts the employment of foreigners “in private undertakings that are engaged in the supply of power or water, in the petroleum sector, in the fields of defence, space technology, nuclear energy and human rights without the central government’s nod,” according to The Hindu.
Additionally, foreigners may be denied entry or residence in India if convicted of “anti-national activities, espionage, rape, and murder, crime against humanity, terrorist and subversive activity… human trafficking, racketeering in fake travel document and currency (including crypto currency) cyber crime, child abuse or found involved in such offences.”
The Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, notified in April, provides exemptions for citizens of Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and Sri Lankan Tamils.
The development comes at a time when Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has intensified his ‘Bangladeshi’ rhetoric against Bengali-origin Muslims and carried out eviction drives disproportionately affecting the community.
At present, 100 FTs function in the state. Previously, individuals unable to furnish proof of Indian citizenship at these tribunals were sent to detention centres through executive orders.
However, a notification issued on September 1 grants the FTs the authority of a first-class magistrate, including powers to issue arrest warrants. This notification replaces the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964.
The timing of the order is significant, arriving just two days after Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to poll-bound Assam, where assembly elections are due in early 2026. During his August 29 visit to Guwahati, Shah endorsed the Sarma government’s eviction drives, declaring that his party would “reclaim land from illegal encroachers.”
Taking a swipe at Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi, Shah added, “Leaders who repeatedly visit Pakistan cannot lead Assam.”
The notification said that FTs “shall have the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) and the powers of a judicial magistrate of the first class under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sahita, 2023 (46 of 2023) in matters including – (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document; (c) issuing commissions for the examination of any witness; (d) directing the proceedee to appear before it in person; (e) issuing a warrant of arrest against the proceedee, if he fails to appear before it,” Hindustan Times reported.
Though the order is applicable nationwide, only Assam currently operates these tribunals, which serve as quasi-judicial bodies adjudicating cases of suspected foreigners referred by the Assam Border Police.
The new measures follow the 2019 completion of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update in Assam, which left the citizenship status of 19 lakh applicants in doubt. Those excluded are required to approach the FTs to prove their citizenship.
The MHA notification also restricts the employment of foreigners “in private undertakings that are engaged in the supply of power or water, in the petroleum sector, in the fields of defence, space technology, nuclear energy and human rights without the central government’s nod,” according to The Hindu.
Additionally, foreigners may be denied entry or residence in India if convicted of “anti-national activities, espionage, rape, and murder, crime against humanity, terrorist and subversive activity… human trafficking, racketeering in fake travel document and currency (including crypto currency) cyber crime, child abuse or found involved in such offences.”
The Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, notified in April, provides exemptions for citizens of Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and Sri Lankan Tamils.
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