The case of Mohammad Sanaullah, a former Kargil war veteran who was recently detained as a ‘foreigner’ despite years of service, has helped bring to light the plight of those at the mercy of Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals.
Sanaullah, a retired honorary Lieutenant of the Indian Army who had been awarded the President’s Medal in 2014, was declared a foreigner by a Foreigners Tribunal on the basis of a dubious investigation report from 2008 that claims he is a labourer and includes statements by witnesses who insist they never said any such thing, and a forged confession.
The Tribunal’s order also relied on absurd considerations like why Sanaullah hadn’t registered to vote when he was 20 years old – even though at the time the legal voting age was 21, not 18.