Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on an electoral registration officer (ERO) of 52 Dispur Legislative Assembly constituency for questioning the citizenship of retired defence personnel and referring the octogenarian citizen to a foreigners’ tribunal for trial “as to whether he is a citizen of India”.
Notably, Jagat Bahadur Chetri, 85, who had joined the Indian Army in 1963 and served for 38 years, had filed a writ petition (WP(C)/6428/2019) in Gauhati High Court in this regard.
Subsequently, the High Court observed that the order of reference itself provides that the ERO had got the matter verified by on-the-spot local verification on the question and it was found that the date of birth of Chetri is 1937 and the place of birth is Dibrugarh.
Setting aside the order of reference, the division bench of Justice Achintya Malla Bujor Barua and Justice Robin Phukan held, “If Jagat Bahadur Chetri was born in the year 1937 and his place of birth is Dibrugarh and there is no material that subsequent to his birth, he migrated to the specified territory (Bangladesh as defined in the Assam Accord 1985) and thereafter, re-entered the state of Assam subsequent to 25th March 1971, we are of the view that it was an absolute non-application of mind on the part of the ERO of 52 Dispur Legislative Assembly Constituency to have referred the petitioner to the foreigners’ tribunal for an opinion.”
The High Court highlighted that the petitioner was serving in the Indian Army since 1963 and retired in 2005 and the enquiring officer had not done their duty in the proper earnest.
The court held that the reference order was not maintainable and declared that the petitioner should be entitled to all the rights and privileges as a citizen of India as might be admissible under the law.
The court further imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the ERO “for causing inconvenience to the petitioner.”
A resident of Amsing. Jorabat, Chetri had served at the 14 FAD (Field Ammunition Depot) of the Indian Army at Satgaon near Amsing Jorabat under Narengi Army Cantonment. He retired in 2005.
“Being tried at the Foreigners Tribunal (FT) means an insult to my Gorkha ethnicity. I was born as an Indian and happy that I will die as an Indian,” Chetri said.
Post the High Court’s verdict, he has expressed relief. “I feel relieved and free from the insult after being referred to the tribunal as a doubtful voter.”
The senior citizen further felt that the court must have fined the ERO for dereliction of duty and causing harm to his self-respect and questioning his citizenship.
Prakash Dahal, the president of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) Assam State unit commented, “We are miffed over how a Gorkha bonafide citizen’s nationality was questioned.”
“The matter has time and again been raised before the authorities concerned, but there was no heed,” Dahal said.
“The election officer was reluctant to verify the facts and callously imposed a baseless and false allegation on a law-abiding ex-serviceman Gorkha who had sacrificed his life in the nation’s service,” he said.
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Jagat Bahadur Chetri’s case is not a single example, but there are many such cases against genuine Indian Gorkhas in civil society that are still pending. We, therefore, urge upon the Election Commission of India to drop all D-Voters arbitrarily marked since 1997 and also those who haven’t been tried at the Foreigners Tribunal and delete the D mark from the Electoral Roll against the names of Gorkha voters,” Dahal further said.
This is not an isolated case though.
“The court has previously heard matters of Gorkha citizens on this subject and passed legal and logical judgments, restoring the community’s faith in the judiciary and democracy,” Nityananda Upadhyay, an advocate of Gauhati High Court and national working president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), said.
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