Declared a foreigner, Assam govt employee with NRC detained

A state government employee, declared a foreigner and deployed to assist preparation of National Register of Citizens in Morigaon, has been apprehended by the Assam Police.

Khairul Islam was apprehended on Wednesday evening. “He will be sent to the detention camp in Tezpur today (Thursday),” said Swapnaneel Deka, superintendent of police.

Four others from the family including his 60-year-old mother, two brothers and a sister are absconding, police said. They, too, will be sent to the detention camp once they are apprehended.

Islam, a teacher in a government school, was marked a suspected foreigner in 2003, a good seven years after he joined the job in 1996, police said.

The family’s case came up at the foreigners tribunal in Morigaon 12 years later in 2015, when the tribunal declared the family of five as foreigners.

However, Islam moved Gauhati High Court and got a stay order on the tribunal’s verdict.

Like around 40,000 state government employees who are part of the NRC duties, Islam worked as a field level officer at the Jaluguti NRC Nagrik Seva Kendra assisting in verification.

Last month when Gauhati High Court upheld the verdict of the tribunal declaring the family of five as foreigners, Islam was still involved in NRC duties. The revelation had led to a furore.

“We removed him from NRC duties as soon as we received reports that the high court has upheld the tribunal’s verdict,” Hemen Das, deputy commissioner Morigaon said, explaining how Islam was taken off duties on August 11, although the district administration was yet to receive a copy of the verdict officially.

Deputy commissioner Hemen Das said the Inspector of Schools office has been asked to submit a report on the matter.

Morigaon has over 8,000 declared foreigners many of whom are untraceable.

Interestingly, early this month, a day after the draft was published, Das had come out with details of how 39 families who were either declared a foreigner, whose cases were pending in tribunals or who were in the D Voter category have made it to the NRC draft and will not be part of the complete list.

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