Hindu Legal Cell demands judicial probe into 'D' voters

From our Special Correspondent

Silchar, Aug 12: Hindu Legal Cell has expressed serious concern at the way Hindus are being branded as ‘D’ voters by the Assam administration as well as the Election Commission of India. Consequently, the Bengali Hindu Indians are put to trial in Foreigners’ Tribul, detention in camp as well as deportation among others. In view of the emerging situation, the Cell has demanded issue of ordince by the NDA led Government in order to put an end to harassment of Hindus in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha and some other states.

 The Cell in an identical memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajth Singh and Governor of Assam Padmabha Acharya has at the same time demanded grant of citizenship to them and allow them to include their me in the current update of NRC. Both of them have been reminded that the harassment of Hindu Bengalis without any justification have been going on since 1997. All these incidents are widely reported in the media.

 It is surprising that despite the protection to Hindu migrants under Section 2 of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act of 1950, the Election Commission of India and the Government of Assam have allowed such grave injustice to the Bengali and other Hindu migrants in the state. What has come as a shock is that the recent ongoing harassment of Hindus in Assam is going on despite the NDA Government in power. This is in sharp contrast to the general perception that the Modi Government in New Delhi will protect and grant citizenship to Bengali Hindus and other Hindu migrants.

 Still shocking, the harassment has gone up and even the genuine Hindu Indian citizens are subjected to illegal detention even though they have valid documents. The memorandum has cited several cases of harassment which includes Suchandra Goswami of Silchar, Rita Das of Badarpur, Banda Rani Das and 102 year old Repati Das of Karimganj as well as many others. Apprehensions have also been expressed that many Bengali Hindus will find their mes missing from the updated NRC of 2016.

 The memorandum at the same time questions the silence of New Delhi which has missed no time to assert that it is committed to protect the interest of Bengali Hindus and Hindus in general. It is expected that the NDA Government without more assurances should act fast and first to take steps for bringing an ordince for the protection of Bengali Hindus. It is also felt by the Cell that the harassment and prosecution of Bengali Hindus in the me of ‘D’ voters are being done with ulterior motive by the border police of state government.

 Hindu Legal Cell has asked why is the border police lethargic or indifferent to take up more active role in identifying the infiltrators? Does it want to make a difference between the helpless and hounded out of Bangladesh, erstwhile East Pakistan, refugees and the infiltrators? Considering the substantial and justified ground, the Cell reiterates an effective judicial inquiry into the acts of the border police of the government of Assam under the so called authority of the Election Commission of India. The memorandum was signed by Dharmanda Deb, convener, Mriganka Bhattacharjee, joint convener, Hindu Legal Cell, Assam state committee.