Man who was declared ‘foreigner’ passes away at 104 in Assam
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“He could barely speak but had one last wish – to die as a recognised Indian,” says member of the family
A bedridden man who was despatched to a detention centre for foreigners at the age of 102 has died at his residence in southern Assam’s Barak Valley. He was 104.
Data | Where are detention centres in India?
News portals based mostly out of Cachar district reported on December 14 that Chandradhar Das died near midnight on December 13 earlier than he may show his citizenship.
His daughter Niyati Das mentioned the centenarian was not holding properly and unable to eat correctly for months. “He could barely speak but had one last wish – to die as a recognised Indian,” she mentioned from their residence at Amraghat close to district headquarters Silchar.
“Sad to know [of his death],” mentioned Lakshmanan S., the Mission Director of National Health Mission, Assam, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar district when a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) declared Das a foreigner in an ex-parte judgement.
Mr. Lakshmanan had ensured bail for Das on humanitarian grounds after his situation got here to mild. The centenarian was lodged at the Silchar Central Jail – considered one of six that doubles up as a detention centre for “illegal foreigners” – in January 2018 after an FT in Silchar declared him a non-citizen.
Das’s counsel, Suman Chowdhury, mentioned he was frail and unable to stroll with out help when lodged at the centre.
Das’s declare of citizenship was based mostly on a refugee registration certificates issued in 1956 in Tripura capital Agartala, which mentioned he was born in Comilla district of erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
His case had been pending because the authorities in Tripura haven’t verified the doc.
An individual from past India’s borders, particularly from present-day Bangladesh, is taken into account a foreigner if she or he entered Assam after March 24, 1971. This is the deadline for detecting, detaining and deporting unlawful migrants in keeping with the Assam Accord of August 1985.
The “foreigner” tag on Das led to his three youngsters and grandchildren being excluded from the National Register of Citizens for Assam, first printed in 1951 and up to date in August 2019.
Some 19.06 out of three.3 crore candidates have been excluded from the up to date record that seeks to sift unlawful foreigners from real Indian residents.
The Das household claimed they got here to India in 1955, properly earlier than the citizenship deadline was decided. They have nonetheless pinned their hopes on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that proposes to fast-track citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who took refuge in India as much as December 31, 2014.
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