THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Amid panic from Centre’s call on NRC, buildings under construction to lodge under-trial and convicted foreigners in Kerala, are being falsely depicted as detention centres for illegal refugees by several media.
Foreigners in considerable numbers, continue to languish in jails for want of bailers or following inability to arrange required documents from their home countries. The ongoing constructions are part of govt efforts, to shift these persons from among criminals convicted from our land.
Also, these facilities have limited in capacities in terms of number of persons they can house and is a far cry from hundreds of thousands of people who will be ousted following NRC.
In several instances, foreigners are booked for staying beyond their visa expiries. The upcoming facilities are equipped with modern amenities suitable to house such citizens who originate from other countries.
Interestingly, the news making waves is drawn from an interview, where an official from the Department of Social Justice says, his office forwarded several requests to the Social Welfare Department, seeking exclusive centres for foreigners who run into trouble with the law. The official further says, there is no response forthcoming from the Home Department against his inquiry on the number of these facilities planned by the State. The original media article, in fact, is a lament on callousness toward lack of suitable centres for foreign convicts and under-trials.
Now, some media have twisted facts to portray these facilities as contradictions to the state government’s vehement claim that it will not stand for National Register of Citizens(NRC), CAA or of late the NPR.
Back in 2015, the Kerala High court asked the govt look into Sahabul’s case, where the Bangladeshi citizen was lodged in Viyur jail. Expressing displeasure over not having separate accommodation for foreigners the court said, the situation is deplorable considering that, other states have arrangements suitable to house such persons.
