Jogeeghopa, December 2: According to a report in Pratidin Sewa, a local publication, a person –recently released from incarceration from Goalpara detention camp received a ‘foreigner notice’ from the border police branch of Bongaigaon district. The well accepted legal principle of double jeopardy — a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following a valid acquittal or conviction—is simply not available to the survivors of this vicarious Foreigner Tribunal process in Assam.
A resident of Jogeeghopa has been subjected to this dual torture, after his recent release from the Goalpara detention camp. After a declaration from the Foreigners’ Tribunal, he had already completed four hard years in detention camp of Goalpara. His name is Ali Akbor a resident of Satpara gaon in Bongaigaon district under Jogeeghopa police station.
According to the May 2018 order of the Supreme Court, Ali Akbor got conditional bail just a week ago. There are serious allegations against Assam’s border police which function without accountability, not even making preliminary investigations as is necessary under law before issuance of such a notice. They are just sitting in the offices and arbitrarily sending notices to anyone. This case is clear proof of the unprofessionalism in the police.
The Bongaigaon border police first ‘declared’ Ali Akbor as foreigner on December 31, 2015 (case no 177/2015 at 2 No. Foreigners’ Tribunal, Bongaigaon). After that, the border police arrested Ali Akbor from the court campus and sent him to Goalpara detention camp. After spending four years, he was released on November 21, 2019. Barely a week after his release, he once again received a ‘foreigner notice’ on November 29, 2019. According to the notice, he must be present in the court of Foreigners’ Tribunal on December 10 with all written proofs in a comprehensive written statement. If he is not a foreigner according to the foreigners act, 1946, section 9, he has to submit proof and appropriate reasons.
The news report may be read here:
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