Government Threatens Africans in Deportation Camps

NewsClick visited the deportation camp in Lampur, at the Delhi-Haryana border, on Tuesday. There, we managed to speak to three Nigerians who described the horrific and illegal conditions in which they are being kept in the camp.

One of the Nigerians we spoke to, Kelly, had been recently put in the camp, about two and a half weeks ago. He said he had a valid passport and a visa which was valid till next year. On inquiring why then he was being deported, he replied, “I had an argument with the Assistant Director of FRRO, and the next thing I know, I am being sent to the camp.” Kelly is married to an Indian woman and has a valid spouse visa. We were also able to get in touch with his wife later, who corroborated the story and gave more details about what had happened. His wife also told us that the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) had threatened the couple forbidding them to take Kelly’s matter to court.

Kelly and his wife in a meeting with the FRRO were asked to shift Kelly’s file from Arunachal Pradesh to Delhi. The couple refused since they are both identified as belonging to Arunachal. Kelly has a residential permit for Arunachal, and the couple plans to settle there. Their refusal to shift Kelly under Delhi’s FRRO led to an argument breaking out. A shouting match ensued, and the argument remained unresolved. Days later, Kelly’s wife received a call from the FRRO asking her to send her husband to the office since they wanted to recheck his passport. Kelly’s wife was apprehensive, so she accompanied him to the office. There, she said, they were greeted with hurls and abuses and called criminals. Then they were told that Kelly’s documents were fake and that he will have to leave the country. When Kelly’s wife demanded to know which of their documents were fake, the FRRO officials responded saying they did not need to explain themselves. Kelly was arrested from the FRRO office right then and taken to the deportation camp in Lampur. Kelly’s wife claims the FRRO did this as a show of power since Kelly had an argument with immigration officers earlier.

Kelly had travelled home in March of this year for his father’s funeral, and returned in April, using the same visa the FRRO claims is fake. Kelly contacted us again from the camp, risking further trouble, to tell us about the threats FRRO has been giving him and his wife. He said the FRRO has told Kelly’s wife to not fight the FRRO or BoI (Bureau of Immigration) on these charges, or else they will put a lot of false allegations on Kelly and she will never be able to see him again. He named Mr Anand Kumar, the inspector in charge of deportation, and the General Director of FRRO, as being behind all this. The Nigerians we spoke to at the camp repeated these two names multiple times, attributing all the trouble that they’ve been through to them.

Kelly confirmed that extortion was happening inside the camp. The FRRO has told him to arrange for money for his travel expenses so they could send him to Nigeria. He also told us that many other Africans have been kept in the camp for longer than a year because the FRRO has alleged criminal charges against them. But these people haven’t had any court hearings, and are also not being sent to prison to serve the charges that have been put on them. The charges are being used as an excuse to keep Africans locked for long periods of time in camps such as this one.

Stories like Kelly’s raise serious questions about the conduct of government officials of India, and the presence of rampant racism in the Indian administration.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.