video editor: Abhishek Sharma
“When I was declared a foreigner, I started hiding so that the police would not arrest me,” 41 -year -old Shefali Rani Das said, he was sitting outside his house in Kachar district of Assam, some he was not able to do so peacefully in some time.
Das was recently declared a ‘Citizen of India’ by the Tribunal of Foreigners (FT) in Silchar, Assam after the intervention of the Gauhati High Court.
Das was declared a foreigner in September 2017 by the same tribunal after failing to appear for five hearing.
Still ending with fear, Das recalled the years of legal, financial and emotional conflicts.
Shefali Rani Das
‘Lack of proper legal advice’
Das claimed that the number of documents that the family had presented, but the missing hearing ended due to insufficient legal advice.
Shefali Rani Das
“One day when my husband went to the market, my younger son went home and informed me that the police had given me a notice.
“The lawyer said that we should submit all our documents otherwise we will be called ‘Bangladeshi’. Das said that a notice was served me and my husband.
‘Emotional upheaval -Puthals’
Das said that the case against him forced him to be afraid for years.
“When I was declared a foreigner, I started hiding so that the police would not arrest me. Whenever a police vehicle crosses, I will be so frightened that my children would ask me to go somewhere that I was feeling safe. I used to hide all day and come back home at night. I was very scared.
Shefali Rani Das
Das’s daughter Supriya said that she wanted to make her mother here and there, but she did not understand why she was not.
“I was young, did not understand what was happening in our family. My mother used to stay away all day and I used to be angry at her.
Shefali Rani Das
‘Case derailed children’s education’
Das said that her husband has been abalted in different ways and has worked in a brick factory to finish them.
“Every time we went to court, they asked for more documents. After several dates, we thought we have no other documents to show, so what do we tell them? I cried but my husband took a loan, and we gave money to the police and others. There was a time when we would have nothing else.
Das said that the case has pushed his family into more financial crisis.
“After appearing for his class 10 examinations, my son started working in a brick kiln. He saved the money and gave me on my hearing dates. We spent about 1.5 lakh rupees, even in this situation. We had to pay some money to the lawyer. I started cleaning other people’s homes.
“My sons are still working. They work more and get low salary due to lack of education,” Das said.
Shefali Rani Das
In July 2021, Gauhati HC separated the previous FT order. The Tribunal Court again heard Das’s case on 17 January 2022. He was declared an ‘Indian’ based on his grandfather and father’s documents, his school certificate and his birth certificate.
“When my lawyer informed me that I was declared an ‘Indian’, I did not believe it. It was not normal in our area, but when my name appeared in a newspaper, I believed in him. Somehow, I am still not convinced that this episode is over. It was a big episode of betrayal; I could not study it, I said.”
