03, Mar 2020

Brothers Shamsur Ali (67) and Abdur Rashid (60) returned home to their village in Goraimari after spending 3 gruelling years inside a detention camp. The continued efforts of Citizenship for Justice and Peace ensured that were out of the detention camp. Now they can heave a sigh of relief.

The brothers were put inside the detention camp after they were declared ‘suspected foreigners’ by the Foreigners’ Tribunal. The brothers, who are illiterate and extremely poor were in the Goalpara detention camp for more than
3 years. It’s been only 2 days since their release. Both hail from Village no. 2 Goraimari that falls under the jurisdiction of the Panbari police station of Chirang district in Lower Assam. They were daily wage earning labourers when they were imprisoned. Sons of late Elimuddin, both Samsul Ali and Abdur Rashid were born in Monakocha village in late 1950s, which is only 3 km from their present home in Goraimari. They shifted to their new home in late 1970’s.
Despite submitting documents including legacy documents of their father Elimuddin’s 1951 NRC, Voters list of 1966 and 1971, they were declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ tribunal and put inside detention camps. As they are uneducated, they do not have a school leaving certificate, but both also submitted their Voter IDs.
CJP is fighting on the ground for the 19,06,657 citizens excluded from the final Assam NRC. They are supporting citizens wrongly excluded from the list with legal formalities and other wherewithal.

Samsul Ali and Abdur Rashid walked out of the detention camp after three years and ten days. The team led by CJP Assam program coordinator Zamser Ali, along with Nandu Ghosh and Pranay Tarafdar went to receive the brother
and bring them back from the detention camp. Had it not been for Nandu and Pranay, my husband wouldn’t have come back,” says Abdur Rashid’s wife.