New Delhi:
A 65-year-old man lodged in one of the detention centres for illegal migrants in Assam died at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Sunday where he was admitted after “deteriorating health”. Family members of Dulal Paul claimed he was mentally unstable, and was admitted to the hospital on September 28 due to his “deteriorating health”.
The family then refused to take his body until the administration declared him an Indian citizen.
The family claimed that he was wrongfully detained and since he was declared “foreigner” his body should be handed to Bangladesh.
“He was mentally unstable,” Sadhan Paul, a nephew of Dulal Paul, told The Indian Express. “His siblings and their families are in the NRC [National Register of Citizens]. Our family has land documents dating back to the 1960s. A mentally-unstable person was put into detention.”
Dulal Paul, a resident of Alisinga village of Sonitpur district was admitted to GMCH on September 28, as per reports. He had been lodged in the detention centre in Tezpur since October 11, 2017.
In July, responding to a question raised in the state Assembly, the Assam government for the first time released a list of people who had died in detention. The list of 25 people included a 45-days-old child and an 85-year-old partially immobile man.
Over 19 lakh people were left out of the final citizens’ list in Assam published in August-end.
