GAUHATI: The Gauhati High Court has slapped a fine of Rs10,000 on an electoral registration officer  of Assam’s Dispur Assembly constituency for referring a retired Gurkha soldier to the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT).

Jagat Bahadur Chetri, who retired from the Indian Army in 2005 after 38-yrs of serving at the field ammunition depot of a major cantonment in the north East, was marked a ‘Doubtful-voter’ in the electoral rolls in 1997. 

The Dispur ERO had sent the 85-year-old Army veteran to the Foreigners' Tribunal or FT concerned during the modification of the electoral rolls a few months ago. An FT, which only exists in Assam, is a quasi-judicial institution that uses the documentation provided to determine whether a person is an Indian citizen or a foreigner.

The division Bench of Justices Achintya Malla Bujor Barua and Robin Phukan heard the case of Mr. Chetri on February 20 and noted that it was clear from the ERO's order of reference that the former soldier was born in 1937 in Dibrugarh, eastern Assam. Afterwards, he made his home in Guwahati's Dispur area.

"If there is no evidence that he migrated to the designated territory after his birth (Bangladesh, as defined in the Assam Accord of 1985) and then returned to the State of Assam after March 25, 1971," the court's order stated. "We are of the opinion 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."

Chetri claimed that the experience had hurt him. "Being called an FT is an insult to the country's armed forces as well as to my Gurkha origin. I'm happy to die as an Indian because I was born one, he said.
The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP), the supreme national body of the community, applauded the high court's decision in the cases of Gurkhas who were left off of Assam's revised National Registry of Citizens and those who were designated as Doubtful-voters.

According to Prakash Dahal, president of the BGP's Assam unit, "the fine of 10,000 for causing psychological harm to a bona fide citizen should not only act as a deterrent for all Election Commission of India officers in the case of Gurkhas but also educate police officers of the Border branch not to be casual in questioning the citizenship of the members of the community."

The Assam police's Border unit is in charge of detecting suspect citizens and sending them to an FT.

"Jagat Bahadur Chetri's argument against authentic Indian Gurkhas is not the only one. As a result, Mr. Dahal urged the Election Commission to take the Doubtful-voter tag off the heads of the Gurkhas in Assam.

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