From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) has demanded the early release of an elderly woman who was “wrongly” declared a “foreign national” two and half years back and subsequently lodged at a detention camp in Kokrajhar.
Residents of Bishnupur village in Chirang district of lower Assam allege that Madhubala Mandal was declared a “foreigner” instead of another woman, Madhumala Das, who had died before the notice was issued by the foreigners tribunal.
“We demand immediate release of the woman who has been declared a foreigner when the notice was in the name of another woman who had died long before. Madhubala was cooking a meal on the verandah of her house when she was arrested and taken to the detention centre,” AAMSU president, Rejaul Karim Sarkar told The Shillong Times on Monday.
The students union further said it was ready to take up her case and bear the legal expenses.
“Madhubala has no guardians but a daughter who cannot hear or speak and a grand-daughter. There is none to take up her case legally. So, we have told the residents to hand over all her documents so that the case can be taken up,” Sarkar said.
Members of AAMSU visited Madhubala’s daughter in her village at Chirang on Monday and donated clothes and food items.
Venting ire at the Assam Police (border branch) and foreigners’ tribunals, the AAMSU president alleged that there is a “hidden agenda” behind declaring people with Bengali and Muslim surnames “foreigners” and subsequently detaining them at detention centres.
“The border police and foreigners tribunals have been conspiring against people with Bengali and Muslim surnames and declaring them foreigners. That has been their agenda over the years,” Sarkar alleged.
The union further threatened to stage a democratic agitation till the government does not take up the issue of re-verification of the documents submitted by people who are not listed in the complete NRC draft published last year.
The Supreme Court had set July 31, 2019 as the deadline for publication of the final NRC.