GUWAHATI: Three years after being labelled a ‘foreigner’ and sent to a detention camp in Assam, a 59-year-old woman has been released with police admitting she was a victim of mistaken identity and officials had picked up the wrong person.
Madhubala Mandal, a widow, returned home to her hearing impaired daughter on Wednesday evening, shortly after being freed from a camp for illegal immigrants in Kokrajhar.
Visuals of a frail Mandal, looking older beyond her years, sitting with security personnel as she was driven to her home in Bishnupur were circulated widely as news spread about her being wrongly confined in a camp. She was released after police admitted before a Foreigners’ Tribunal that they sent Mandal to the detention camp instead of a Madhumala Das who was declared a foreigner by the Tribunal in 2016. Both women belong to Bishnupur in Chirang district.
“When I received a complaint that Madhubala Mandal has become a victim of mistaken identity and sent to a detention centre, I constituted an inquiry and the facts came out. It was a case of mistaken identity,” Chirang District Superintendent of Police Sudhakar Singh told the media.
Singh informed the police headquarters and moved the Foreigners Tribunal in Chirang for corrective action.
According to villagers in the area, Madhumala Das and her husband Makhan Nama Das had died long before the tribunal had issued the notice.
“The tribunal issued the notice in the name of Madhumala Das but the police apprehended Madhubala Mandal and sent her to the detention camp,” a member of Das’ family told reporters here.
Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia (Congress) said the party would demand punishment for officials responsible for such goof-ups in investigation that had caused suffering to many people during the process of updating of the NRC.
“Due to negligence of officials, several Indians are declared foreigner. There has to be action against them,” he said.
“If a person is punished for submitting forged documents, an official committing such goof ups and harassing people must be handed over exemplary punishment.” the Congress leader said. “Due to vested and partisan interests of a section of people, genuine Indians are being harassed,” he said. (Agencies)
