Another 'Foreigner' dies in Assam detention camp; kin refuse to accept body

Days after the death of Phalu Das, a 70-year-old man declared "foreigner" and lodged at Assam's Goalpara detention camp since 2017, his family continues to refuse to accept his body. Das' family has been demanding that the deceased be declared an Indian national or his body be sent to Bangladesh since he was declared a 'foreigner'.

Nalbari (Assam):The family of 70-year-old Phalu Das, who died on Thursday after two years of detention in a camp for declared foreigners in Assam, refused to accept his dead body demanding that the deceased be declared an Indian national or his body be sent to Bangladesh since he was declared a 'foreigner'.

They have also demanded that the names of all the family members be included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and not a single member be sent to the detention camp in the future.

Das, a resident of Satemari near Mukalmuwa of Nalbari district, had been in a detention camp in Goalpara in lower Assam since July 2017. He was admitted to hospital on October 11 after his health deteriorated. He was later referred to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where he died during treatment.

Das' family has refused to accept his body and alleged that they were not informed about his health condition. The family further alleged that he was declared foreigner despite having all the documents.

Das' 28-year-old son, Duryadhan, said, "We produced every document demanded by the authorities, but he was still declared a foreigner. We demand that the government declare my father a citizen of the state. Otherwise, we will not accept the body. Only my mother and two elder sisters’ names have been included in the final NRC and my brother, two sisters and I have failed to make it to the list. We are too poor to contest the foreigner's tribunal court order in the high court. The government must declare him an Indian,” said Das’s son, Duryadhan, a fish vendor.

"If they think that he is a foreigner, then his body shouldn't be handed over to us. He should be sent to Bangladesh since they believe that he belongs to that country, " said Das' daughter-in-law.

The Nalbari district officials, in the meantime, are trying to convince the family members to accept the body.

Nalbari deputy commissioner Bharat Bhushan Dev Choudhury said, “Das was declared a foreigner and kept in the Goalpara detention camp since 2017. He was admitted to Goalpara hospital on October 11 and referred to GMCH for better treatment. He died at GMCH and post mortem was done on Friday.”

Choudhury said the family was insisting that the NRC authority include their names before they accept Das’s body.

“We have approached the family to accept the body, but they are refusing to do so. As he is a declared foreigner, family members have been left out of the NRC. They are demanding that they are included in the NRC. We made our stand clear that we are not competent to do so. We are trying to convince them, " added Choudhary.

This is the second instance this month where family members have refused to accept the body of the deceased who was declared a foreigner by the foreigner's tribunal.

On October 13, Dulal Chandra Paul, a 65-year-old man from Alisinga village of Assam's Sonitpur district, died in the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital also because of "deteriorating health problem". His family alleged that negligence on the part of the authorities led to his death and refused to accept his body.

Only after Assam ministers Parimal Suklabaidya and Ranjit Dutta met the family and assured to provide necessary legal aid for getting Paul to be declared as an Indian national, that his cremation was done.

On Friday, the Assam government constituted a Special Review Committee to oversee various conditions prevailing in the detention centres that house persons declared as 'foreigners' by the Foreigners Tribunals.

Assam has six such detention centres.