Assam: Victim of mistaken identity released after 3 yrs

A 59-year-old woman in Assam, who was put into a detention camp inside a jail three years ago for being an “illegal immigrant” in a case of mistaken identity, was released on Wednesday.

The victim, Madhubala Mandal, was sent to a detention camp inside Kokrajhar jail in 2016 as the police mixed up her name with Madhubala Das, against whom a case was registered in a foreigner tribunal. Both hail from a village in neighbouring Chirang district in western Assam.

Admitting the mix-up, a police official in Chirang said there were three women of the same name in the village. Police carried out an inquiry and found it to be a case of mistaken identity after Mandal’s family and local organisations demanded her release.

Many, however, questioned the police investigation and demanded legal action against the police personnel, who had arrested her without proper verification of her identity.

“Who will give back her three years? Who will compensate for the agony the innocent woman and her family members went through during her detention? The government must look into the issue and take action so that a similar incident is not repeated,” a student leader said.

“Even if it was a mistaken identity, why did police take three years to complete the verification? Such poor handling of such sensitive cases will raise questions about our police force and their investigation,” he said.

Police sources said verification revealed that Madhubala Das and her husband, who were declared foreigners by a tribunal, had died years ago.

Over 900 persons, including women and children, who were declared foreigners by tribunals are lodged in six detention centres inside jails in Assam. The state government, however, is planning the “conditional release” of those who have already completed three years in detention.

The state government is also planning to set up 10 more such detention camps to detain those who will also be declared foreigners after publication of the final NRC on July 31. The NRC is being updated only in Assam with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date, to detect foreigners, who had migrated mainly from neighbouring Bangladesh.