Soldier Of Misfortune

How Army veteran Mohammad Sanaullah failed the citizenship test. And why it calls for legal remedies to rectify the grave flaws in the system

- Rabi Banerjee

Mohammad Sanaullah is free, for now. But his mind is not without fear, and his head is not held high.

The 51-year-old had been a fearless and proud soldier for 30 years. He had joined the Army’s Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers in 1987 and served with distinction in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. He was attached to the Rashtriya Rifles for six years before he retired in 2017 with the rank of honorary lieutenant.

Sanaullah’s world came crashing down on May 28 this year, when the foreigners’ tribunal declared him a Bangladeshi and sent him to a detention camp in Goalpara district. The welcome at the camp was humiliating. He was lodged in a mosquito-infested room with 55 others and was tortured, starved and forced to relieve himself openly.

News of his detention created a huge uproar. The police said it was only following rules and guidelines, and that a case against Sanaullah had been registered at the Boko police station in Kamrup district in 2008. The case was transferred to the Guwahati bench of the foreigners’ tribunal two years later, and the tribunal’s verdict was based on a report submitted by the border branch of the Assam Police.

The public outcry saw Sanaullah case being taken up by the Gauhati High Court. Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising flew to Guwahati to help his team of lawyers. Led by advocate Syed Burhanur Rahman, the lawyers worked for free to secure his bail.

“The situation of most people who have been accused of being Bangladeshis is pathetic,” said Rahman. “They are very poor. How could we charge them?”