Guwahati: Around 250 inmates at the Goalpara Detention Centre in Assam, who have been declared ‘foreigners’ by different foreigner tribunals in the state, have started an indefinite hunger strike while some of them have taken ill.
These men have been refusing meals since the past three days and at least five of them are critical.
The inmates are protesting against the indifferent attitude of the government and the system that indicted them as ‘foreigners’.
Aman Wadud, a Guwahati-based human rights lawyer, who has been working actively in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) cases said that almost every individual who has been declared a ‘foreigner’ is actually a genuine Indian citizen who failed to prove his/her citizenship due to minor anomalies in their documents.
There are about 2,000 such ‘foreigners’ languishing in six detention centres across Assam after the tribunal declared them ‘foreigners’. Although a few got relief from the Supreme Court after they challenged the verdict, all hope seems to be eluding the others.
Some of these detainees who are old and frail cry for help, but to no avail. According to some, these inmates are not even treated like the other inmates.
“They have raised some demands, which will be forwarded to the government, but they have assured us that the strike will end on Thursday. The situation is under control and medical aid is being provided to the sick. Doctors and medical teams are observing their health parameters,” said Deputy Commissioner of Goalpara, Ghanashyam Dass.
Dass added that they are closely monitoring the protest and have requested the inmates to call it off. The authorities are also planning to shift the seriously ill protestors to the Goalpara civil hospital, if need be.
Listing their demands, the Deputy Commissioner said that the ‘foreigners’ want a district appellate authority to deal with the appeals. Their second demand is to address the grievance of their family members and relatives who travel long distances to see them at the detention centres, for which the detainees want to move to their respective native districts. Others do not wish to stay in the jail establishment and demand a separate detention camp.
From a distance of about four feet, the visiting area is railed off for detainees at the Goalpara Detention Centre inside the district jail. The inmates are allowed to meet with their families for not more than 30 minutes.
A young man who went to see his relative at the detention centre on Wednesday spoke to News 18 on condition of anonymity. He said, “My uncle is a ‘declared foreigner’ living here for the past nine months and there are so many of them staying at the camp for years now. I couldn’t bear to see frail old men crying profusely, bowing to their fate and little children wailing at seeing their father in confinement.”
Wadud added, “The fact remains that they have been declared ‘foreigners’ by the tribunals and as per the Foreigners’ Act, they have to be detained. Their demand to be released cannot be met unless the government changes its policy.”
“However, the jail manual rules should be applied for the detainees - they should be allowed to work for a minimum wage and granted parole to visit their families. These are genuine Indian citizens living here from before the Partition.”
(With inputs from Rinku Das)
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