India, Sept. 9 -- Assam will give people suspected of being illegal immigrants 10 days to prove their Indian citizenship and send them to detention camps pending push back to Bangladesh if they fail to comply within this deadline, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Tuesday after the state cabinet approved a new set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) under a 1950 law.

This is a landmark decision, which will provide for 'fast track action' against illegal foreigners and "bypass" the existing mechanism of such cases being handled by the nearly 100 foreigners' tribunals (FTs), Sarma said.

The tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies empowered under the law to declare someone as a foreigner.

Sarma said people lodged in detentio...