Justice seems to be far away from 102 year old Chandradhar Das

October 30: It seems that the rays of hope for the 102 year old Chandradhar Das to cast his vote in the forthcoming election will remain a distant reality. On 30 October, The Foreigner’s Tribunal-6 (FT-6), was supposed to deliver its verdict on the issue of his nationality. But it did not happen so.

Chandradhar Das claimed Indian citizenship on the basis of his Citizenship Certificate of 1966. His lawyer Soumen Choudhury submitted all relevant documents, examined all witnesses and was expecting a verdict in favour of the 102 year old Das. But the twist in the story was augmented by that very Citizenship Certificate of Chandradhar Das. Infact, this certificate was issued by the State Government of Tripura. As such, the member of FT-6 ordered that his Citizenship Certificate of 1966 be sent to Tripura for verification. Meanwhile, the Tribunal said that it would hear the case again on 28 December.

Niyoti Roy, the daughter of Chandradhar Das came all the way from Borai Basti under Dholai constituency in the Amraghat area of Cachar district with great hope of listening to a positive judgment. She too became heart broken when the Tribunal deferred the hearing of the matter by another 2 months.

It was indeed shocking news for many when 102 years old Chandradhar Das, a resident of Borai Basti under Dholai constituency in the Amraghat area of Cachar district and who possessed a citizenship card of 1966, was declared foreigner by an ex parte judgment of the Tribunal on 2 January. Marking him as D voter, he was sent to the Detention camp in March. The feeble Chandradhar Das was later on granted bail on humanitarian ground. He was summoned by Foreigners’ Tribunal-6, Silchar to prove his citizenship. Since then, the old man inflicted with multiple old age ailments like hearing disability and memory loss is doing the rounds of FT-6.

Kamal Chakraborty, on behalf of the Barak Valley-based Unconditional Citizenship Demand Forum (UCDF), has been a Good Samaritan to Chandradhar Das since the days he was in the Detention Camp at Silchar. On Tuesday, speaking to way2barak, Mr. Chakraborty said that it is a normal process for the Tribunal to send documents for verification. He was, however, hopeful that the legal battle of the old man will come to an end very soon. Mr. Chakraborty further said that there are a number of such cases pending before the Foreigners’ Tribunal since long.