Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has decided to withdraw 28,000 pending cases from Foreigners Tribunals. Under this decision, the Koch-Rajbongshi community has been given relief due to their “indigenous” identity. This move has again fueled the discussion of three controversial systems in Assam politics, including Doubtful Voter (D-voter), Reference Cases and Foreigners Tribunal (FT). This move highlights the controversies and questions of the judicial system in the state.
Doubtful Voter and the Impact of Assam Police Border Organization
Doubtful voter, commonly known as D-voter, is under the Assam Police Border Organization. This organization is part of the Assam Police and its job is to identify suspicious persons in the voter list. Under this D-voter system introduced by the Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) government in 1997, many communities have got relief, but Muslims still have to face this discriminatory system. The lack of representation of Muslims in the police and higher judiciary is also alleged to be the reason for putting them in the D-voter category.
Problems with the D-voter system and Supreme Court intervention
Being included in the doubtful voter list takes away a person’s voting rights. To get out of this situation, a person has to appeal to the Foreigners’ Court (FT), in which economically backward people often face great difficulties. In this system, people are often declared foreigners due to minor mistakes like spelling mistakes in documents, difference in age or difference in surname. However, in some cases the Supreme Court has intervened and restored citizenship, like in the case of Mohammad Rahim Ali. But very few people have the ability to reach the High Court and most people remain stuck in detention camps or live in fear of arrest.
Why did Muslims not get relief? Non-Muslims get relief under CAA
Although the Koch-Rajbongshi community and other non-Muslim communities have got relief, Muslims are excluded. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in 2019 provided for granting citizenship to non-Muslims who have migrated to India from neighbouring countries. Subsequently, in 2024, the Assam government ordered that the cases of non-Muslims who entered India before 2014 should not be sent directly to foreign courts and encouraged them to apply for citizenship under the CAA. This brought relief to Bengali Hindus and other communities. But Muslims have been excluded from the process, and are considered outsiders.
According to Prime Minister Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, Muslims should also get rights like other communities and should not be seen as outsiders but as natives of this country. If the Assam government has given relief in the matters of Koch-Rajbongshi community, similar treatment should be ensured for Muslims also so that they too can lead a dignified life as citizens of this country.
