The administration in Assam’s Biswanath district has ordered two declared foreigners to leave the state within 24 hours, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

The orders were issued by the district administration under the 1950 Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act.

The Act grants power to district commissioners and senior superintendents of police to expel “illegal migrants” from the state by bypassing the foreigners tribunals.

The order, dated December 20, named Asmul Khatun and Afuja Begum, stating that they were declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal in 2005, The Indian Express reported.

It added that being a declared foreigner, Khatun and Begum’s “presence in India/state of Assam” was “detrimental to the interest of general public” and “internal security of the state”, the newspaper reported.

The order directed them to leave the state through the Dhubri, Sribhumi or South Salmara-Mankachar routes. This effectively requires the two to leave the country.

Biswanath Superintendent of Police Ajagwran Basumatary told The Indian Express that the women are being detained at the Matia Transit Camp in Goalpara district.

“Their deportation is under process and will be undertaken in due time after receiving the green signal from the Border Security Force,” Basumatary was quoted as saying.

Similar orders were issued against 15 persons in Nagaon district on December 17, and against five persons in Sonitpur district on November 18.

In September, the Assam Cabinet approved the framing of a standard operating procedure under the Act. Earlier, cases pertaining to undocumented migrants were handled by foreigners tribunals.

Sarma had said that the standard operating procedure to use the 1950 Act had been approved, which would, to a large extent, “nullify” the role of the foreigners tribunals.

Foreigners tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship. However, the tribunals have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and of declaring people foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.

As per the standard operating procedure, if a district commissioner receives information from the police or other sources that a person is suspected to be an “illegal immigrant”, the official will direct the person to produce evidence of his citizenship within 10 days, Sarma had at the time.

If the district commissioner finds that the evidence submitted is not satisfactory, he can pass an expulsion order by invoking the 1950 Act, ordering the removal of the undocumented immigrant from Assam “by giving 24 hours’ time and by the route so specified”.

In June, Sarma informed the Assembly that the state government was planning to invoke the 1950 law to “push back” more suspected foreigners.

The chief minister had claimed that the expulsion of declared foreigners was justified in the legal framework provided by the Immigrants Expulsion from Assam Act.

Also read: Why experts contest Assam CM’s use of 1950 law to justify forcing out people into Bangladesh