I. Prohibition of Arbitrary Detention of Stateless Persons and Precarious Citizens The Assam government is detaining precarious citizens in the province to deport them to their alleged country of nationality.162 In pursuance of this objective, precarious citizens are detained upon being declared as ‘foreigners’ by the FTs.163 The persons excluded from the NRC facing the threat of arbitrary deprivation of nationality also face the threat of detention. Precarious citizens in Assam are Indian nationals and have the right to reside in India. The alleged state of nationality i.e. Bangladesh also maintains that they are not its nationals.164 This section assesses the legality of detention of precarious citizens in Assam and stateless persons in India as per relevant standards prescribed in international law. It first examines whether such detention is arbitrary through the test of legitimate purpose and proportionality, and then applies these standards to assess the legality of indefinite detention. 162 Home and Political Department, Government of Assam, Foreigners’ Issue (White Paper, 2012) <https:// cjp.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/White-Paper-On-Foreigners-Issue-20-10-2012.pdf> accessed 24 May 2020. 163 ibid. 164 Shoaib Daniyal, ‘Bangladesh government expresses concerns over Assam’s NRC process for the first time’ (Scroll.in, 18 July 2019) <https://scroll.in/latest/930979/bangladesh-government-expressesconcerns-over-assams-nrc-process-for-first-time> accessed 13 July 2020. chapter ii • detention 103 SECTION I.