The timely intervention of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia has saved a couple from deportation and to be released from the detention camp.
Saikia has welcomed the Gauhati High Court’s order for release of Tinsukia-based Dinesh Prajapati from the detention camp at Dibrugarh.
While delivering judgment on WP(C) 4023/2018 on October 3, a Division Bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Manojit Bhuyan and Justice Prasanta Kumar Deka, did not accept Prajapati’s claim of being a member of a family based in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, but directed the plaintiff to be released from the detention camp and allowed him to enroll at the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) at Tinsukia. This will enable Dinesh Prajapati to apply for citizenship after the statutory waiting period of ten years.
Dinesh Prajapati and his wife Tara Prajapati were declared as foreign nationals by a Foreigners Tribunal in 2002 and were on the verge of being deported when the matter came to the attention of the Leader of the Opposition.
Saikia then engaged advocate Syed Burhanur Rahman to fight their case in the High Court, with the result that Dinesh Prajapati will now be a free man. Tara Prajapati’s case is likely to come up for hearing next month.
Saikia said that the chain of events involving Dinesh Prajapati has underlined that it is essential to provide legal aid to thousands of ‘Declared Foreigners’ and ‘D Voters’ so that they too may get justice.