From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Here is another dimension of the complicated process of detection of illegal migrants in Assam through foreigners’ tribunals. Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam are now having live cases against 2,01,705 suspected Bangladeshi migrants.
However, the State Election Commission has so far been able to trace only 12,408 such suspected migrants from Bangladesh.
Gauhati High Court in order passed during March this year directed that all the persons against whom cases are pending in Foreigners’ Tribunals should be marked as “D” (doubtful) voters in the electoral roll so that they can’t vote in the election.
However, the Commission could detect only 12,408 so far while the rest 1,89,218 suspected migrants have remained untraced, according to an official source.
Improper addresses of these suspected illegal migrant as has been recorded with the Tribunal on the basis of the cases filed by the police have been the major problem in the path of detecting those persons. It has been found in many cases that the person concerned has not been found in the address mentioned in the case filed against he/she by the police with Foreigners’ Tribunal.
Some time police give the address of the suspect’s workplace while his/her name may be included in voters’ list in another place. In such a situation, the state Election Commission has become helpless in its bid to trace the suspected illegal migrants.
The ‘D’ voters issue is raging in the state where All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and some other minority organisations allege harassment of ‘genuine India citizens’ after they were marked ‘D’ voters.
These organisations have demanded that Assam government must intervene to stop such harassment of Indian citizens in the name of detection of ‘illegal migrants’ in the state.
All the 18 legislators of the AIUDF in Assam have filed a case in Gauhati High Court in this regard and the case is pending with the court seeking necessary documents from the petitioners in support of their grievances regarding the ‘D” voters issue.