“Special Refugees” And India’s Obsession With Detention
By Sreekumar Kodiyath
12 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
On 5th May, 2014 nine refugees arrived from Sri Lanka by boat on the shores of Tamilnadu and were promptly taken by the infamous Q-Branch of Tamil Nadu police to the erstwhile transit camp for Sri Lankan refugees, a highly guarded facility in Mandapam of Tamil Nadu.
Remeka, Udyakala (physically handicapped), their husbands Dhayabaraj, Suthakaran and their five children[ii] were charged with offences under Sec. 13 and 14 of Foreigners Act, 1946.[iii] The offence was entering India without a passport. While the proceedings against them were going on, they applied for bail and secured it. However, the Q-Branch had already procured an order[iv] for their detainment in the “Special Refugee Camps”, those highly secure detention facilities for “special refugees”.
A relic of the post Rajiv Gandhi Assassination days, the special refugee camps now exist as an instrument for harassment and oppression of the refugees in regular camps by the Q-Branch of Tamil Nadu Police.
The two men were promptly transferred to the special camps at Cheyyar and women were sent to a secret special camp inside Mandapam facility with their children. Eventually, they were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for an year on 6th January, 2015 and were transferred to regular prisons. Their children were also directed to be lodged in the prison with them. Upon completing their sentences in January, 2016, the state which didn’t find the idea of releasing them to its favor, returned them to the same “Special Camps”. They continue to be detained till date.
The complex geopolitics of South Asia remains elusive and dynamic, difficult to be updated with. However, when you are a refugee on the run, it determines your liberty or life. Indo-Sri Lankan relationship and the Eelam war is such a context. While the war between Sri Lankan government and LTTE concluded through a gory bloodbath in 2009, unknown to the scores of Tamil civilians who survived it, their status had changed in their most accessible refuge, India. On a policy level, India had incredibly decided that conclusion of the conflict indicated reign of peace in the Island nation and the boat refugees who arrived at the protruding lip of Tamilnadu from Sri Lanka would be treated under the provisions of its archaic and cold Foreigners Act of 1946.
The grim ground realities of the state of affairs in Sri Lanka under the dictatorial regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa were not of a concern to the policy makers in India. As far as they were concerned, the abductions, murders and state crackdown on human rights activists, journalists and international organizations as well as the persecution of the Tamils by the military and the policed under the allegation of links with LTTE were just indicators of the efficient functioning of a state.
What is notable in this case is the nature of the “special camp” in Mandapam. It does not feature under the category of “special camp” anywhere in the camp population statistics that the Department of Rehabilitation under Government of Tamilnadu regularly publishes. Neither is anyone allowed to inspect or even go anywhere near the facility in Mandapam. With the law and judiciary terming these camps lightly as mere “places of internment” and with the Q-Branch remaining in absolute control over them, the individuals in these camps continue to be indefinitely incarcerated under complete anonymity.
Mr. P. Pugalendhi, a prisons rights activist and an advocate who represents the Special Refugees including these individuals in the High Court, is not hopeful about their release any soon. He has not even been granted permission to visit his clients or enquire about their well being. With the continuances that government regularly seeks in the court and the insensitive attitude of the judiciary to the issue of special camp refugees, he is doubtful if these people would be able to get out of these prisons any soon.
Meanwhile other “Special Refugee Camps” for Sri Lankan refugees continue to exist, growing when the authorities deem fit and shrinking when the inmates resort to fasting or attempt suicide in protest.[v]
[i] Sreekumar Kodiyath is an Independent Researcher. Author can be contacted in [email protected]
[ii] Nilaxana (aged 13) Vithuran (aged 7), Diyaran (aged 10), Dilani (aged 7) and Dilishiya (aged 3)
[iii] CC. No. 254/2014 and CC. No. 256 of 2014
[iv] PUB. (SC) DEPARTMENT, GOV'T OF TAMIL NADU, G.O.NO.SR III/1120-1/2014 dated 30.06.2014
[v] According to the author’s information, 6 persons were brought in to the Special refugee camp at Trichy between 12th and 16th of February raising the figure from a total of 13 in January to about 20 in February.