Eight-yr-old girl declared D-voter in Assam's Chirang

An eight-year-old girl child from Assam's Chirang district has been declared a D-Voter by the Superintendent of Police, Border. Following the D-voter notice, the minor's name also does not feature in the National Register of Citizens, even though both her parents' names have been included in the register. But, the question remains as to how can a minor- whose name is yet to be enrolled in the voters' list- be declared a D-voter?

Chirang (Assam): While more than 1.2 lakh people have been declared 'D' (Doubtful) - voters in Assam so far, the latest victim of this practice unique to the northeastern state is an eight-year-old girl from Assam's Chirang district.

But, the mystery lies in the fact that how can a child, who is yet to be enrolled in the voters' list be declared a D-voter.

Belonging to the minority community, the girl has been sent a notice declaring her a D-voter by the Superintendent of Police, Border, in Chirang.

The plight of the girl does not end here, since being identified as a D- voter, her name has also been excluded from the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) as well, while her mother and father's names feature in the citizens' register.

Unaware of what being a D-Voter means and what horrors the future could hold for her, when asked by the reporter about what she understands by the term D-voter, the minor girl smiles at the camera and says, "I don't know, we went to the police station yesterday."

Speaking to ETV Bharat, the girl's father, an illiterate said, "I have taken my child to four hearings at the NRC office and the SP office till now, but nothing substantial has come out of it. She is still a D-voter."

Assisting the family with the case, Abu Zubair Mandal, president of the All BTC Minority Students Union, told ETV Bharat, "A person can only be declared or identified as a D-Voter if his/her name features in the voters' list if they do not possess valid documents to prove their Indian citizenship. But, how can they an 8-year-old child, whose name is yet to be enrolled in the voters' list, be declared a D-Voter is beyond my understanding."

If the girl's case is taken up at the Foreigner's Tribunal and if the quasi-judicial body declares her a foreigner, the eight-year-old girl risks being thrown into one of the detention centres.

This is not an isolated incident, in the lead up to the publication of the final NRC - scheduled to be published on August 31 - many people were declared D-voters overnight and now their names don't figure in the NRC.

In a similar case, another eight-year-old boy was declared a D-Voter from Assam.