NEW DELHI: Detention centres — meant to hold foreigners either staying illegally in the country or who have completed sentence for an offence committed in India, while their nationality gets confirmed and travel documents issued by their home country — have been in existence in various states for past few decades, in accordance with instructions first issued by the home ministry in July 1998, government sources told TOI on Thursday.

The detention centres, sources said, are in line provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Foreigners Order, 1948, with even the Supreme Court having taken cognisance. They “ensure physical availability of illegally staying foreigners at all times for expeditious deportation, as soon as travel documents are ready,” an officer said adding that detention centres were not connected to NRC.

The instructions asking states/UTs to set up detention/holding centres were issued by home ministry in 1998 and reiterated on 23/11/2009, 07/03/2012, 29/04/2014,10/09/2014 and 07/09/2018 in pursuance of Central government’s powers under Foreigners Act, 1946 to impose restrictions on the movements of a foreigner and require him/her to reside in a particular place, as well as under Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 to direct removal of any person from India who has entered without valid passport or other travel documents. These powers have further been delegated to the state governments under Article 258(1) of the Constitution and to Union territory administrations under Article 239, and may be exercised through the foreigners regional registration office (FRROs) across 12 locations in the country, or FROs, a charge held by district superintendent of police.

Sources said Assam government had been earmarking portions of jails as detention centres for the last few decades. Detention centres/holding centres/camps for foreign nationals are in existence in Assam (in district jails of Goalpara , Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Silchar ); NCT of Delhi (Sewa Sadan (Lampur), Mahila Sadan (for women) & Shazadabagh (for Bangladeshi nationals); Punjab (Central Jail, Amritsar); Rajasthan (on jail premises in Alwar); West Bengal (correctional home); Gujarat (Bhuj); and Tamil Nadu. MHA also approved construction of a detention centre in Matia, Goalpara, which can accommodate 3,000 inmates.

Instructions issued on 07.03.2012 were in deference to a Supreme Court order dated February 28, 2012, which observed that the foreign nationals who have completed their sentence should be released from jail immediately and kept in appropriate place with restricted movements pending their deportation, and that such places must have basic facilities of electricity, water and hygiene.

Foreigners confined in the detention centres are not subjected to strict prison regimes.

The Supreme Court had, in an order dated 12/09/2018, noted the instructions issued by MHA 10/09/2014 advising all state governments to set up detention centres/ holding centres/camps. It also noted the progress in construction of detention centre in Matia, Goalpara sanctioned by the Central government and said it expected Assam to ensure construction at the earliest.

It was in pursuance of an SC order dated 20/09/2018 on a plea filed by Collaborative Network for Research and Capacity Building, Guwahati, that a model detention centre/holding centre/camp manual was prepared and circulated by home ministry to all states and UTs on January 9, 2019.

