A Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) in western Assam’s Bongaigaon has issued a prove-your-citizenship notice to a woman it had declared an Indian citizen more than two years ago.
The Bongaigaon-based FT No. 1 had in March 2019 declared Bharati Sarkar of No. 2 Jamdoha village in the Bongaigaon district “as not being a foreigner of the stream post-1971 or any other stream”. The Assam police’s Border wing, suspecting her to be a Bangladeshi national, had referred her case to the FT in July 2005.
Foreigners in Assam are determined on the basis of the Assam Accord that seeks the detection, detention and deportation of people who entered the State illegally after March 24, 1971.
But the same FT issued a notice to her again on September 30 on the basis of a Border police investigation that said she had entered Assam illegally.
“This is a clear case of harassment. How can an Indian woman established as an Indian be served notice as a suspected foreigner again?” Amritlal Das, general secretary of All Assam Bengali Oikya Mancha said.
Bongaigaon’s Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka said the notice to the same person twice in two years could have been a case of oversight. “The case can be disposed of if a copy of the earlier order is attached to the reply to this notice,” he told The Hindu.
Senior police officials said there have been cases where a person was issued ‘D-voter’ (doubtful voter) or suspected foreigner notice more than thrice. Pressure to achieve “targets” — referring a minimum number of cases to an FT — is said to be the primary reason.
