Guwahati | A Border Security Force (BSF) assistant sub-inspector and his wife have been declared non-Indians by a foreigners’ tribunal (FT) in Assam’s Jorhat district.
The officer, identified as Muzibur Rahman, a resident of Udaipur-Mikirpatty in Merapani area of the district, and his wife were declared as ‘foreigners’ in December. However, he was posted in Punjab and come across the information last month when he reached Assam.
According to sources, he and his wife were initially marked as “doubtful voters” by NRC authorities and referred to the Jorhat tribunal.
Also Read: All you need to know about the NRC in Assam
The tribunal at Jorhat has ordered the Assam police to arrest them.
The officer has not reportedly moved the Guwahati High Court.
“We are not Bangladeshis or Pakistanis, we are Indians born in Assam. We have land records going back to 1923. But the border police termed us D-voter (doubtful voter) based on the statement of a drunkard,” Rahman told a local news channel in Assam over phone.
“Notices issued to us to appear before the FT were sent to someone else’s address. As I was posted outside Assam, I was not aware of it nor were we informed about it by the village chief,” Rahman added.
According to Rahman’s family members, the Jorhat Foreigners’ Tribunal told them that the BSF sub-inspector was declared a ‘doubtful (D)’ voter in July 2018 and was declared a foreigner in December the same year. However, his family was informed about the tribunal’s decision on 28 July this year.
Currently, there are 100 semi-judicial bodies which adjudicates on the citizenship of persons termed suspected foreigners.
The Supreme Court has given a one-month extension to the NRC. The ones who are declared “foreigners” or, are proved as illegal immigrants will not be included in the final NRC list.
The first draft of NRC released in July last year had excluded names of 4 million of 32.9 million applicants who had applied to be included in the list.
Earlier two months ago, an Army jawan was similarly declared as a “foreigner”.
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