Far from the Indian capital of Delhi, the state of Assam has been a test case for the new citizenship regulations supported by the ruling Hindu nationalists that have sent shockwaves through the nation.
Critics see the changed citizenship law as essentially a"Muslim filter," which will put Muslims at risk of arbitrary detention, according to Dr. Adil Hossain, a journalist and academic at the University of Oxford.
"That is what the protest is all about," Sajal Nag, former Professor of History at Assam University, told ABC News."That after 70 years of independence, generations of people who have born and died [in India], and now you are asking people for papers. India is a country that started the system of filing birth certificates only about 30 years back."
There are currently 130,000 people who have been declared"illegal immigrants" by the foreigners' tribunals in Assam, Ali among them, out of a state with around 30 million people. They have been rendered virtually stateless – stuck in India, not in jail, but living in limbo with none of the benefits of being a citizen. Bangladesh, the bordering country the"illegal immigrants" are accused of belonging to, has said it is unwilling to repatriate them.
Having already spent 400,000 rupees on legal costs in the case of his father, Hoque will now have to submit documents to Assam's foreigners' tribunals to prove he qualifies as a citizen, all the more doubtful now that his father has been declared an illegal immigrant. Meanwhile, the tribunals' processes have been marred by accusations of sloppy investigations and singling out suspects arbitrarily, with Amnesty International describing them as"A foreigners' tribunal, in Hojai, Assam. Over 200 are being built to cope with the demands of the National Register of Citizens.
Singha Ram Mili, the Police chief of Bongaigaon, told ABC News that"usually it does not happen that the same person is booked more than once," as happened in Ajbahar's case. Mili defended the Border Police, saying that"the inquiries are initiated only when the inquiry officer visits the village and finds that the suspect has failed to produce documents.
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