Fact Check: Is Assam Police Forcefully Sending Illegal Immigrants To Detention Centres?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘no detention centre in India’ remark has sparked a massive war of words between the BJP and the Congress. While the Government of India has not issued any clarification, the fact is that there have been number of occasions where the Modi Ministers have spoken about pan-India NRC and detention centres. Now, a video clip has gone viral on the Facebook that claims authorities are thrashing and dragging people forcefully to the newly constructed detention centres in Assam. Many people are sharing the grainy video clip amid the ongoing CAA-NRC crisis. Facebook users are claiming that those who failed to find their names in the NRC list are being mistreated by authorities. The viral message on the Facebook claims that the video is from Assam and those identified as illegal immigrants are being sent to detention centres forcefully.

However, now fact-checking website Alt News has debunked the viral message. The report says that the video is actually from 2017 and it has nothing to do with the NRC exercise. The Alt News shared the original video, which is by a local channel called ‘DY365’. Dated November 27, 2017, the video is actually from Kangkan Nagar where authorities were conducting eviction drive. The local channel’s video clip is still available on it Facebook page. “As the second day of eviction drive continues at Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, an appalling incident took place at Kangkan Nagar. An angry protestor identified as Ismail Haque attacked a forest official with a sharp weapon amid the eviction,” the caption read. 

Many media reports have spoken about the new detention centres in India. Back in October, News Nation had also reported about new detention centre in Karnataka. The October 3 report said that the detention centre, being built in Nelamangala Taluk on the outskirts of Bengaluru, is 90 per cent complete.

For the first time in history of independent India, the government is building detention centres for illegal immigrants. A direct fallout of the NRC final list, which was published on August 31st, the government is planning to construct 10 such detention camps in Assam. Now, several reports have come out in public about one such detention centre that is being constructed in Goalpara district, about 150 km from Assam capital city Guwahati. Built at cost of Rs 46 crore, the construction began of the camp began last year.