Abu says that the names of his grandfather Shohidullah Sheikh and father Maziur Rahman were in the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC).
When he reported to work on March 15 early this year at the South Salmara police station, there was a fair bit of shock waiting to greet Assam police constable Abu Taher Ahmed. A letter from the Foreigners' Tribunal asking him to prove his Indian citizenship had been dispatched to the police station, and Abu was to present documents by August 8.
Abu, 33, who had joined the Assam police in 2008, said he was shocked. "I was born and brought up here. And, so were my father and grandfather," he told DNA over the phone from South Salmara. He added that he presented his papers at the Foreigner's Tribunal on June 8, and that he will need to be present on the next hearing on August 8.
Abu says that the names of his grandfather Shohidullah Sheikh and father Maziur Rahman were in the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC). And the 1966 voters' list had his grandfather's name. "My father passed the 10th board exams in 1978, and there are school documents proving this. I also have land documents," said Abu, who was born and grown up in South Salmara.
South Salmara superintendent of police Amrit Bhuyan says when Abu joined the force, there was a verification of his nationality. Abu, however, says there were four rounds of verification.
Bhuyan says the case dates back to 2000, when prior to joining the police force in 2008, Abu lived in Guwahati doing odd jobs. In 2000, the voter's registration put Abu in the D-voters' (doubtful voters) list. And the summon from the Foreigners' Tribunal is in connection to the case. "He has the papers, and he just has to show them. I'm sure after this hearing, he will not face much trouble," said Bhuyan.
Yet, the Tribunal's mistake is not a lone one, and a few such cases have emerged from the 100-odd tribunals of the state. In March this year, 11 people in Kalikajari village who were referred by the border police force to the Tribunal, were descendents of Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin, the deputy speaker of the first legislative assembly of Assam, who served between 1937 and 1946.
Another case, that of Reshminara Begum, too, created a furore in Assam. Begum, whose presented papers claiming that her father, freedom fighter Ramjan Ali who fought alongside freedom fighters like Kanaklata Devi, sired her when he was in his 80s, was arrested and is was lodged in the foreigner detention camp in Kokrajhar. She was pregnant and gave birth to a girl in the camp. She is out on bail now and, an inquiry has been set up to investigate her case.
Aman Wadud, a lawyer fighting these cases says that most of these cases are marred by arbitrary and shoddy investigations. "The investigating authorities, like the Election Commission of India and the Assam Border police, randomly pick and frame Indian citizens as illegal immigrants and send their cases to the Foreigners Tribunal. More than 80% of these so-called "illegal immigrants" are held Indian by Foreigners Tribunal," says Wadud.
Not the first
The Tribunal’s mistake is not a lone one, and such cases have emerged from the 100-odd tribunals of the state.
In March, 11 people referred to Tribunal, were found to be descendents of Moulavi Amiruddin, 1st deputy speaker of Assam assembly.
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