Twenty-six Deaths In Assam's Detention Centres Magnify Fallacy Of NRC Exercise, But Who Cares

• Name: Dulal Chandra Paul

• Age: 65

• Died: October 13, 2019

• Nationality: Unknown

The industrious farmer was born and brought up in Assam바카라�just like his father Rajendra Paul. The family in a village near the central Assam town of Tezpur couldn바카라�t be more emphatic and steadfast in asserting their antecedent. Yet, when Dulal Paul died at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital on October 13, he was a stateless person바카라�declared a foreigner staying illegally in India and thrown into a detention centre. His three sons바카라�aged 28, 25 and 14바카라�face similar uncertainties or fate. Their names have been left out of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC), considered by many in Assam and elsewhere as the holy grail of all efforts to detect foreigners staying illegally in the state. Paul바카라�s wife is safe바카라�she is an Indian, her name features on the all-important NRC list.

The old man바카라�s death would have been a mere footnote in the state바카라�s long history of attempts to tackle undocumented immigration from Bangladesh, a country sharing a long and porous border with Assam. But his wasn바카라�t a one-off, lonely death. At least 25 so-called 바카라�Bangladeshis바카라� died in detention after foreigner tribunals바카라�those quasi-judicial agencies adjudicating such cases in Assam바카라�sealed their fate, proclaiming them non-Indian. Then again, cases abound of tribunals sending suspects to any of the six detention centres in Assam and courts freeing these men and women later when they successfully prove their citizenship바카라�Indian. The trauma of living the life of a prisoner stalks them throughout. Does anybody care? Hardly.

The tribunals err and the mistakes are far too many to be ignored, human rights campaigners allege. Anger, anxiety, exasperation, suspicion et al follow every time such cases are reported. Paul바카라�s relatives were engulfed in similar emotions and they couldn바카라�t be faulted for refusing to accept his body and insisting the government send it to Bangladesh. It was only after chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal assured the family of legal assistance to fight his case that they performed the last rites바카라�nine days after his death.

Paul바카라�s nephew Sadhan put the family바카라�s feelings바카라�a mix of anger and pain바카라�into perspective. 바카라�When he was alive, he was treated a foreigner and kept locked in a detention centre. After his death, the authorities forced us to accept the body of a foreigner,바카라� he says. The sarcasm and bitterness was not lost. 바카라�What does it mean? When he was alive, he was a foreigner and he becomes an Indian in death?바카라�

The shifting line바카라�like the sand bars of the Brahmaputra and Barak바카라�over who is a foreigner and who바카라�s not has become the rallying point of families that have their dear ones in detention centres, or dead already in those hellholes, where food is scarce and basic amenities almost non-existent. At least 26 people have died in the six detention centres in Assam since 2011, as per government records.

The deaths prick public consciousness, but the subject that pushed these people to their untimely end바카라�foreigner versus khilonjiya or native바카라�is highly emotive in Assam. It captures votes. No doubt, political parties have waded in. Badaruddin Ajmal, the All India United Democratic Front chief, called the deaths inhuman and tragic, and asked the government to initiate steps for a solution. 바카라�This is injustice. When a person is declared a foreigner or a Bangladeshi, he or she should be sent to Bangladesh. People are kept in detention centres like animals,바카라� Ajmal says.

The opposition Congress, which ruled the state for 15 years nonstop until the BJP uprooted it in 2016, blamed the Sonowal government for the casualties. Assam unit Congress general secretary Apurba Kumar Bhattacharya says: 바카라�The BJP came to power with the promise to protect Hindu Bengalis, but what is the reality?바카라� He alleges that 바카라�a sympathetic humanistic approach바카라� was missing in the state government바카라�s policy towards detection of illegal foreigners even after Paul바카라�s death. The Congress leader advises the chief minister, who has the home department on his watch, to 바카라�rise above petty politics and settle the issue바카라�.

Government records show 1,145 바카라�foreigners바카라� were lodged in detention centres. Of them, 335 are eligible for release in accordance with a Supreme Court order that directs the Assam government to set free 바카라�declared foreigners바카라� detained for more than three years. But there바카라�s a catch. The detainees would have to submit two sureties of Rs 1 lakh each, besides a verifiable address, in return for their freedom. That바카라�s quite steep for most detainees바카라�mostly from lower middle class families.

What has angered human rights activists and opposition parties alike is the construction of another detention centre near Goalpara. This one has space for 3,000 people. The government plans to set up 10 more.

It was in Goalpara, in March last year, that Subrata Dey바카라�a 36-year-old making a living selling tea from a small sack, and feeding a family of five바카라�was detained by police and sent to a detention centre. Dey died of a cardiac arrest in May, wife Kamini Dey says. 바카라�We don바카라�t understand the complications. We have been living here for ages. Our forefathers have their names in the NRC of 1951. Still, my husband was declared a foreigner and detained. After his death, the jail authorities brought his body and forced us to perform the last rites.바카라� She wells up.

The widowed mother of two insists that a clerical error바카라�a typo바카라�sent her husband to death. His name was apparently typed wrongly on documents; Subodh Dey, instead of Subrata Dey. And Subodh was the one the authorities were looking for. 바카라�They promised to resolve the issue, but no one has helped us. It바카라�s been a year now. No one comes to help the poor,바카라� Kamini states her resignation as she stares at another challenge. She must appear before a foreigner tribunal and clear her name. 바카라�I have spent Rs 25,000 already and now I got a second notice. The advocate says Rs 35,000 will be needed to get my name cleared,바카라� she says. And one might ask how could money buy someone citizenship? It does and that바카라�s another story.

That an inattentive typist바카라�s fingers can ruin someone바카라�s life is, perhaps, best exemplified in Assam. 바카라�Most of the people, irrespective of religion, kept in detention centres are victims of clerical mistakes. We want the government to review the entire process. And whoever found to be Indian should immediately be released,바카라� insists Azizur Rahman, an advisor to the All Assam Minority Students바카라� Union (AAMSU). It바카라�s bigger and more influential counterpart, the All Assam Students바카라� Union (AASU), wants the government to make its stand clear on the deaths. AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi says: 바카라�The government should come up with a policy as per the Constitution.바카라�

For its part, the BJP government asserts that the matter is sub judice, but the 바카라�harassment바카라� will end once the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) becomes a law. State cabinet minister Parimal Suklabaidya says: 바카라�Once CAB comes, these problems will not be there anymore. I sincerely hope Dulal Chandra Paul바카라�s sacrifice will be the last.바카라� The CAB endorses citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants who have faced religious persecution in three neighbouring countries and have entered India before December 31, 2014. That바카라�s another hot potato waiting to be peeled.

By Abdul Gani in Guwahati