In yet another case of harassment of genuine Indian citizens in the name of the D Voters, a retired Army official was arrested and sent to detention camp after a Foreigners’ Tribunal in Assam declared him a foreigner.
52-year-old Mohammed Sanaullah from Kolohikas village in Assam’s Kamrup district was declared a ‘foreigner’ by the Boko Foreigners’ Tribunal on May 23.
The Assam police have detained Sana Ullah from his residence on May 28 following the order of the Foreigners’ Tribunal at Boko.
Born in 1967 to one Mohammed Ali of Kalahikash village under Boko in Kamrup district, Sonaullah had joined the Indian Army in 1987 and served for 30 years before he was retired as a Honourary Captain in 2017.
In 2014, Sonaullah was also conferred upon a Presidents’ Certificate for his promotion to the rank of Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO).
During his military career, he had taken part in three Counter Insurgency operations while being posted with 26 Rashtriya Rifles in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and 33 Field Workshop in Kupwara near Line of Control ?(LoC) from 2015 to 2017. He was also part of CI operations in Imphal West district of Manipur from 2007-2010.
After his retirement from the Army, Sonaullah had joined the Assam Police Border Branch as a sub inspector.
“There is a Foreigners’ Tribunal case against him since 2008. The Foreigners’ Tribunal at Boko mentioned some mismatch between the documents submitted by Sona Ullah regarding his date of birth and the date of joining the Army as reasons for the court’s order terming him a foreigner,” said advocate Sahidul Islam, counsel of Sonaullah.
“However, we have enough documentary evidence to prove that he is a genuine Indian citizen and we are going to appeal in the court soon,” Islam said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee on Wednesday appealed chief minister Sarbanaanda Sonowal led Assam government to ensure that not a single name of genuine Indian citizens is left out while preparing the complete NRC.
Senior APCC leader Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya on Wednesday said that there are instances of harassment of genuine citizens in the name of updating the NRC across the state and added that there are harassment of those families who name appear in the NRC 1951.
“Several people have chosen to end their lives in detention camps. Four out of the five people who died in detention camps of Assam so far are Hindu Bengali. A total of 44 people have s far committed suicide in Assam for not finding their names in the draft NRC published last year,” he said while urging the chief minister to take necessary steps in this regard.