GUWAHATI
The Assam Cabinet has decided to withdraw about 28,000 cases in various Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) against the Koch-Rajbongshi community.
The decision will effectively remove the ‘D’ or doubtful voter tag from these people. D is a category of voters in Assam disenfranchised by the government for their alleged lack of credible citizenship documents.
“Many cases are pending in the FTs, and the surnames of 28,000 such people are similar to those of the Koch-Rajbongshi people. In other words, 28,000 Koch-Rajbongshis continue to carry the ‘foreigner’ label,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after the Cabinet meeting on April 4.
“The State government believes they are an indigenous community and are an inseparable part of the Assamese culture. The Cabinet has, thus, taken a historic decision to lift the FT cases against them immediately,” he said.
“The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years,” the Chief Minister said.
The Koch-Rajbongshis inhabit large swathes of Assam and northern West Bengal. They have a sizeable population in Meghalaya and Bangladesh.
The community, which once ruled parts of present-day Assam, Bangladesh, and West Bengal, is one of six demanding Scheduled Tribe status in Assam. The other five are the Adivasi, Ahom, Chutia, Matak, and Moran.
In August 2024, the Chief Minister told the 126-member Assam Assembly that the FTs in the State declared 1,59,353 people as foreigners. He also said the agencies concerned referred 4,35,841 cases to the FTs, of which 3,37,186 were disposed of while 96,149 cases were pending.
Assam has 100 FTs, which were set up under the Foreigners’ Act of 1946 and the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964 to determine the citizenship status of individuals suspected to be illegal immigrants.
