Family members of deceased declared foreigner refuse to accept his dead body

October 15: Dulal Chandra Paul, a 64-year resident of Alisinga village in Assam’s Sonitpur district was declared a foreigner by a Tribunal in October 2017. He was then sent to the detention camp at Tezpur in 2017. On September 27, Paul was sent to Tezpur Medical College Hospital and then to Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) for treatment. He died on 13 October with the tag of a foreigner at GMCH.

However, after his death, his three sons–Asish, Ashok and Rohit have refused to accept the dead body of their father. They categorically stated that they are not going to accept the body until the government declares him as an Indian citizen. His elder son Ashish Paul said, “The Foreigners’ Tribunal declared our father as a foreigner and then sent him to the Detention Camp. Now if he is a foreigner, why the government is handing over his body to us? How can we accept the body of a declared foreigner?”

Another of his son, Ashok Paul heaped severe allegation upon the way his deceased father was treated at GMCH. He said that they were informed by the authorities at the detention centre that their father’s health is not good and so he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He, however, alleged that when they went to meet him at GMCH, they were pained to see his father kept in one of the veranda of the GMCH with no proper treatment.

It needs mention here that the names of the deceased Dulal Chandra Paul and his three sons Asish, Ashok and Rohit were excluded from the final NRC declared on 31 August, 2019. Their father was already lodged in Tezpur Detention Centre. However, his 3 sons determined to knock the doors of judiciary for justice as they claimed that his father had all valid documents to prove that he was a genuine citizen of India.

Also Read: Another life lost: 64-year old man dies in Tezpur Detention Camp