Ramkrishna Das and Arati Das, Katigara, Cachar District, 2018
Detention Timeline Case Study #21 [written in Bangla by Kamal Chakraborty, edited and further translated into English by Riya]
The air was filled with anticipation and amazement of the upcoming Durga Pujo; everyone was enchanted and busy preparing for the event. The day was the sixth day of Durga Pujo when the festivities truly began. The year was 2018. I was meeting Professor Debashish Chakraborty of Cachar College, Silchar, at Sujit’s tea-stall in front of the DC Office. Ramkrishna Das of Chandinagar, Katigara, came to meet us after a call with two papers in his hand. Debashish saw the papers, one of the papers stated that Ramkrishna Das and his wife Arati Das were Indian. The second paper said that Ramkrishna Das and his family members are foreigners.
Debashish was shocked beyond belief. How was this possible? And what can we do next? Neither Debashish nor me could give him any words of comfort or hope in this bizarre situation. Talking to us, Ramkrishna broke down crying, howling, in the pain of becoming a foreigner on this day that Durga Pujo begins. All I could do was assure him, “Don’t worry, we are going to stand with you; I am sure we can figure out a way. Don’t tell your wife and kids as of yet; let the kids enjoy the festivities.” Ramkrishna left for home overwhelmed with a heavy heart; Debashish gave him some money to help out in this challenging time. Both me and Debashish were also upset; the next day, Debashish called me, “You know Kamal Da, I couldn’t sleep all night.”
What was in this case? Let’s get to understand this course in detail – In 2010, a notice was sent to Ramkrishna Das and his wife, Arati Das, from Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal No. 2. Lawyer Ansarul Haque fought their case. In the end, on September 9, 2013, Ramkrishna Das and Arati Das were declared Indians. They were finally at peace and happy, but it did not last long. On September 11, 2015, a notice was sent again from Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal No. 4 questioning his citizenship. The judgment order that declared Ramkrishna and Arati Indian was sent to the Election Office, but still, they remained marked as D-Voter or Doubtful Voter. We still do not know how that happened.
Ramkrishna came to meet us with another person in August 2018. I was a little confused about the case. There were two notices. One was a letter to Human Rights along with the judgement copy, and on top of it, it was written, Case Dismissed. So I asked, “Why is it written that the case is dismissed? Did you not go to your old lawyer about it?” Ramkrishna did not; the other person accompanying him told us about Lawyer Niharanjan Das and took Ramkrishna to him. So we decided to go and meet him.
After speaking to Mr Niharanjan Das, I realised he is now officially the lawyer but hasn’t worked on them. He did not even consider getting the files and papers from his earlier lawyer, Ansarul Haque. I was shocked; how can he fight the case if all the documents and files are with Mr Ansarul? Mr Niharanjan didn’t bother to get them.
So, later on, we tried our best, and with the help of Faqrul, an associate of Ansarul Haque, we got the Judgment Copy from Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal No. 4. There it was written that Ramkrishna and his family members are all foreigners. We realised they were declared to be foreigners because of the negligence of his lawyer, Niharanjan and his associate Swarup Acharya. His lawyer never appeared before the Foreigners’ Tribunal. That is how the judge and members of the Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal No. 4 declared Ramkrishna and his family as foreigners in the unilateral verdict. The case could have been resolved very quickly. If they submitted the earlier judgment copy that declared him and his family ‘Indian,’ everything would go back to normal, and this wouldn’t have been the state of their fate.
Now the case will be fought in the Guwahati High Court; a lawyer from Silchar, Taniya Laskar, helped to hand over the case to High Court Lawyer, Waliullah Laskar. Necessary documents needed to be obtained from two courts in Silchar. Thanks to the tireless work of Taniya, the task was completed. Lawyer Walliullah made sure to fight the case, and first, he got an order issued on April 12, 2019, that stated the following –
“As an interim measure, petitioners shall not be taken into custody and deported from India, subject to the condition that they shall appear before Superintendent of (Border) Police, Cachar, every 15 (fifteen) days from today and furnish a bail bond of Rs 5000 each with one local surety of the liked amount to the satisfaction of the said authority, whereafter they shall be allowed to remain on bail.”
Ramkrishna Das and his family members cannot be arrested or deported until the final order is issued. With a bail amount of 5000 INR for everyone. But it was challenging for Ramkrishna to find guarantors for the bail. It is a complicated process to find guarantors even without any bail amount. It was doubly difficult for Ramkrishna, and he is a small-time poor fish seller; it was a huge task for him to figure out the money and the guarantors for everyone.
Currently, he is out on bail and the case is still pending in the high court. We hope that lawyer, Waliullah will be able to provide Ramkrishna and Arati justice and get them declared as Indians.
[This is the 21st Case Study from the book আসামে নাগরিকত্ব হরণের দহনলিপি // Transliteration: Assam-e Nagorikottwo Horoner Dohonlipi by Kamal Chakraborty. The book was first published in February 2021 by Kotha Bikolpo Pariwar, Silchar, Assam. To know more about the book and this translation project or contact the translator or the author, click here. If you want to order this original book in Bangla, you can get it from the People’s Book Society, College Street in Kolkata. Contact Number: 033-22199256; instead, you may also contact the author or the translator.]