09, Aug 2021 | CJP Team

The tragic story of Fazar Ali might have a happy ending. The distraught man, unable to cope with the trauma of being declared foreigner, had attempted suicide by jumping into the Brahmaputra. But though he was rescued, police nabbed him from the hospital. Now, CJP is helping him secure conditional bail in line with judgments of the Supreme Court and Gauhati High Court with respect to release of eligible detention camp inmates amidst the still raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Fazar Ali, son of Rustam Ali of Khutamari village under Goalpara District, was a daily wage labourer. He was working in Delhi at the time his case came up at the Goalpara Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT). His older sister tells us, “He attended five hearings and after that returned to his job in Delhi. He became ill and could not come back for the subsequent hearings.”

But when the FT declared him a foreigner, Fazar Ali found it difficult to cope with his predicament. When he returned home, the Border Police came to arrest him and he went into hiding. His sister says, “He was driven to the edge of insanity by the FT ruling. Unable to figure a way out, he decided to end his life and jumped into the river.”

Over the last three years, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) has had the opportunity to help several of our fellow Indians in Assam. We have helped them navigate the complex process of having their names included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), first via document collection and form filling, and then by guiding them through the Claims and Objections process. CJP has also helped eligible inmates get released from Assam’s detention camps and continues to support many of the most impoverished families by providing them food rations. As you take a deep dive into the trials and tribulations of some such people, remember, we have been able to help them only because of your continued support. Please donate now, so we can help more of our fellow Indians in Assam.

But fate had something else in store for him. He was rescued from drowning and taken to a hospital. There the police arrested him and took him to the Goalpara detention camp where he has been lodged since August 5, 2019.

His wife, Kamala Khatoon was pregnant at the time. “I was six months pregnant when they took my husband away. As I had no one to look after me, I went to live with my mother in Dhubri. My father is dead and our financial resources are extremely limited.”

When Fazar and Kamala’s son Jahangir Alom was born, she couldn’t even show the newborn’s face to her husband as she did not have money to travel all the way to the detention camp. “I have expended money and energy travelling between my natal home and marital home, I have nothing left to go meet my husband,” she laments.

CJP Assam state team in-charge Nanda Ghosh visited the family recently. “It is a hilly terrain located right next to the Brahmaputra. It is very difficult to walk there during the monsoon,” says Ghosh. However, the CJP team persevered and started scrutinizing Fazar Ali and his family’s documents as well as looking for bailors. “I spoke to 23 different people in one day, and examined their documents. Finally, we found a bailor who had all his documents in order,” says Ghosh.

CJP was in the final leg of securing Fazar Ali’s release at the time of filing this report. If all goes well, Fazar Ali will be back to his wife and child in a few days. Watch this space for more.

Related:

800 kms, 5 districts: CJP goes the extra mile to locate detention camp inmate’s family

Empowering Assam: CJP goes above and beyond the call of duty

CJP’s work still going strong in Assam