Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Friday affirmed that it will not open detention centres in the state for people who don't make the cut as per the new citizenship norms. The Chief Minister's office issued a statement in this regard to refute reports that the state had plans to open such centres amid the ongoing charges and counter-charges on the controversial move.
While clarifying that the allegations were baseless, the CM's office also added that though the order to construct detention centres was issued by the previous UPA dispensation at the centre, it was not taken forward.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja also assured the public that the government had no intention of opening the facility.
The instruction to create detention centres was reportedly given when Congress leader Mullappally Ramachandran was the Minister of State for Home Affairs at the centre, she clarified.
However, the file was kept on hold when the new government took charge. The government will never support such discriminatory practices, Shailaja added.
The centre had asked the states to sent their suggestions on the planned move to open camps where people who illegally entered the country could be confined. Those staying illegally in the country after the expiry of passport or visa tenure and those overseas citizens awaiting repatriation to homelands after serving jail could also be detained at such exclusive centres for monitoring purposes.
Following the passage of the Citizenship (Amendement) Act, 2019, reports had surfaced that detention centres were being built across the country to house individuals who do not qualify the citizenship criteria laid down by the government.
The Act seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
'Order to construct detention centre came in 2012'
According to the chief minister's office, in 2012, the centre had asked all the states to construct detention centres in their respective regions through a letter. In 2015, a meeting was summoned under the leadership of the Home Ministry to discuss the contents of this letter.
The facility was meant to restrict movement of illegal immigrants or foreign nationals awaiting deportation. The group to be housed in the ccentre includes individuals who enter the country without prior permission, foreigners with expired passports and visa, and under-trial foreign prisoners awaiting return to their country after serving their sentence in India.
According to the Hindu, the detention centres were to established under the Department of Social Justice (DSJ). While the state's social justice department had to find suitable buildings for the facility, the police department had to provide the operational staff for the same.
It was opined that these detention centres should be outside the purview of the police, jail departments.
Following this, the state's social security department sought details such as the estimated number of inhabitants to be housed in the facility from the State Crime Records Bureau.
Though their queries concerning the detention camps remained unanswered, the centre continued to follow up with the state on the issue through correspondence.
The present Kerala government have not yet moved any file with respect to the detention centres. The process initiated by the government since 2012 has been stopped considering the present day situation, the chief minister's office informed.
According the Times of India, as many as 44 individuals have been deported from the state in the past one year on multiple charges including drug peddling and illegal stay. This includes 38 Bangladeshi national and one each from USA, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Oman and Italy.
