Speakers highlight how the assault extends into Assam’s detention centres; they have overturned the burden of proof. Now it’s guilty until proven innocent
NEW DELHI — In a public tribunal, organised by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) here on Tuesday, legal experts, bureaucrats, researchers, and human rights activists unitedly sounded the alarm over the grave human rights violations being committed against the Bengali Muslim community in Assam.
The press conference featured prominent figures such as Justice Iqbal Ansari, Shri Gopal K Pillai, Jawahar Sircar, Wajahat Habibullah, Syeda Hameed, Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, Taison Hussain, Imtiaz Hussain, Prof Apoorvanand and Fawaz Shaheen, who laid bare the brutal realities of life in India’s detention centers and the illegal and unethical eviction and detention of Bengali-speaking Muslims in a state that proactively and systematically excludes and oppresses them.
Opening the proceedings, Prof Apoorvanand set the tone by asking, “As Indians, what do we owe the people of Assam? The government is demolishing homes, stripping people of their right to vote, and branding them as outsiders. It is our duty to see, to listen, and to stand with them.”
Reflecting on Assam’s history, Abdus Samad said, “We came to the Home Minister regarding the problems of minorities. Our ancestors settled here 150 years ago, made regions habitable, and embraced the Assamese language. Yet today, the CM calls us ‘Miya’ and threatens to eradicate us like ‘corona’. No Muslims in Assam are Bangladeshis, but we are kept awake at night by this false label.”
Shri Gopal K. Pillai added, “Migration into Assam was once encouraged because the region was thinly populated. The extent of foreigners is far smaller than claimed, but millions who lack documents are being punished. If this continues unchecked, tomorrow any one of us may struggle to prove we are Indian.”
Broadening the scope, Jawahar Sircar reminded the gathering, “When we talk about minorities in Assam, we are not only speaking of Muslims. Bengali Hindus and tribals too are caught in the dragnet of suspicion, excluded from their own homeland.”
Accounts from the ground painted a disturbing picture. Taison Hussain described how Assamese Muslims are forcibly uprooted, “People are being picked up, branded foreigners, and dumped in no-man’s land, even women with infants. Ninety percent of those targeted are Indians. This is a gross violation of human rights.”
Imtiaz Hussain drew attention to disenfranchisement: “Even if we assume for a moment that some people’s stay was illegal, how can their votes be illegal? Destroying homes, documents, and children’s education is nothing but an attempt to erase minorities from public life.”
Fawaz Shaheen, who visited eviction sites, emphasised the violation of legal safeguards: “Evictions were announced through public notice but no individual notices, demolitions carried out even when cases were pending in court. Families showed records dating back to 1944, yet they were displaced. It’s very hard to maintain land records in Assam due to ecological reasons. Many are poor, underprivileged climate refugees, and they are being made stateless in their own country.”
Speakers highlighted how the assault extends into Assam’s detention centres. Harsh Mander described Assam as “fascism manifested in a very extreme and brazen way. They have overturned the burden of proof. Now it’s guilty until proven innocent. And the proof needed for this can sometimes be very hard to acquire. People are being declared foreigners for spelling mistakes in their documents and sent to detention centres, which are set within jails where women have not stepped out for years and years.”
Prashant Bhushan pointed to the wider political and economic context: “The rule of law is being completely disregarded. Bengali Muslims are being evicted without constitutional process while their lands are handed to corporations like Adani and Patanjali. Journalists are threatened, tribal lands are seized, and everything is justified under the rhetoric of national security.”
The tribunal also underscored the constitutional crisis that Assam represents. Wajahat Habibullah, in a recorded message, warned, “The Constitution guarantees equality to all citizens. If equal rights are under threat in Assam, it demands urgent action from both the government and the people, no matter where violations occur.”
Similarly, Justice Iqbal Ansari declared, “I am ashamed that Assam is going through a situation we could never have imagined. A chief minister is tearing the Constitution to bits. If we cannot call this out, it will happen to all of us.”
Finally, Syeda Hameed spoke at the climate of hatred, “Even if some undocumented migrants exist, there are lawful and humane ways to deal with them. Instead, what we see is blood-curdling cruelty. The word ‘Miya’ has been turned into a curse. We must never lose hope, and we must stand with all the people of Assam.”
The tribunal closed with a collective resolve to amplify the voices of Assam’s displaced and dispossessed and to remind the nation that their citizenship rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of India, even if the state government and public narrative attempt to deny their foundational right to belong.
