Citizen rights body condemns 'harassment' of 'D' voters

 SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR, March 20: Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), Assam, strongly condemned the alleged inhuman torture and humiliation meted out towards one of the genuine Indian citizens confined in the detention camp of Silchar, which led to his death on March 17. The ill fated ‘D’-voter Bulu Sabdakar of Hailakandi district was 75 years of age who died on Thursday at 2.05 pm at Silchar Medical College and Hospital due to tuberculosis and related diseases. In 2007, the Foreigners Tribul Bench at Karimganj, in exparte judgment declared him as a foreigner and in the year 2010 he was apprehended by the police and sent to the Silchar detention camp from where he never came back home.

 President Nripendra Chandra Saha and general secretary Bidhayak Das Purkayastha of CRPC expressing their deep anguish said that the government is intentiolly harassing and torturing a particular community of the society in the me of ‘D’-voters and foreigners which seems to be a conspiracy and an instance of “ethnic cleansing” of the Bengali community. Bidhayak Das Purkayastha opines that if the government and its machinery were sincere in identifying the real foreigners, they would have settled the long pending cases of ‘D’-voters within a specific time-frame programme.

 Bidhayak Das Purkayastha added that the victim who was arrested in 2010 filed a bail petition in the Guwahati High Court which is still pending for a hearing and judgment. This clearly proves that the judiciary is also not impartial in giving justice to the deprived and suppressed.

Prime Minister rendra Modi, before the last Lok Sabha elections declared that if BJP led Government came to power, the problems of ‘D’-voters, foreigners, citizenship of Hindu migrants of Indian origin would be solved permanently and ‘detention camps’ abolished within 10 days of his assuming office.

 But, almost two years are going to pass by and the BJP led government has failed to keep its commitment towards the suffering people.

CRPC has appealed to the masses to keep their eyes and ears open before casting their votes so that they are not emotiolly blackmailed and misguided by the cunning politicians. The leaders of CRPC also feel that the case of Bulu Sabdakar is a total violation of human rights as a doubtful citizen cannot be kept in prison along with hardcore crimils and anti-social elements. Being the sole bread-winner of the family, he spent 15 years of his life within the four walls of the detention camp only on doubtful ground of his citizenship, without any proper care, food, medication.

 CRPC demanded a compensation of minimum Rs.10 lakh to the family and a government job for the deserving family member immediately. In this regard, CRPC Assam, has decided to file a case before the tiol Human Rights Commission and bring the matter to the knowledge of the United tions Human Rights Commission.