Holding pattern

Detention centres in Assam, which were meant to hold inmates temporarily, have become synonymous with endless captivity

- SEEMA HUSSAIN

DULAL CHANDRA PAUL died a broken, stateless man. The 64-year-old was in police custody since 2017, after a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) in Assam ruled that he was not an Indian citizen. Paul, from Alisinga village in Assam’s Sonitpur district, was lodged in a detention centre attached to the district jail. As his health deteriorated, he was shifted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital, where he died on October 13, 2019. Paul’s family refused to accept his body for 10 days, demanding that the authorities first remove the ‘Bangladeshi’ tag and declare him an Indian. They relented only after the government promised a thorough probe into the issue.

People in Assam are livid over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that there are no detention centres in India. “If that is the case, then will the prime minister please inform us where my father was kept for two years before he died?” asked Paul’s son, Ashish. He said despite having all the required documents, Paul was declared a ‘foreigner’ and was put behind bars, even as the rest of the family continued to live as Indian citizens. “The BJP government will now give citizenship to all Bangladeshi migrants, whereas my father, an Indian, was made to die a foreigner. The government which cannot give justice to its own people is now trying to welcome outsiders and make them Indians,” said Ashish.