GUwahati, April 4: In a major move hailed as historic, the Assam Cabinet on Friday approved the withdrawal of 28,000 D-voter (doubtful voter) cases pending against members of the Koch Rajbongshi community across the state.
Speaking to the media after the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the decision was taken in recognition of the Koch Rajbongshi community’s deep roots in Assam’s cultural and historical fabric.
“Given the integral role of the Koch Rajbongshi community in Assam’s heritage, the state cabinet has directed the withdrawal of 28,000 cases pending in Foreigners Tribunals (FTs),” Sarma said.
Calling the move “historic,” Sarma emphasized that the community is one of Assam’s indigenous groups and has long suffered injustice. “These are very poor people. They have been harassed by the Border Police for quite a long time. We need to protect their rights,” he added.
Since the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985, thousands of community members have been entangled in legal battles to prove their citizenship, often facing stigma and fear of deportation. Many of these cases stemmed from language barriers and documentation issues, particularly in districts like Dhubri, Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, Darrang, and Dhemaji.
The impact has been severe. In 1987, a woman named Nirabala Ray was declared a foreigner and nearly deported to Bangladesh, a move halted only after protests by Koch Rajbongshi organizations. In another tragic case, a young man from Darrang district died by suicide after being declared a foreigner.
Welcoming the decision, Biswajit Ray, secretary of the Koch Rajbongshi Jatiya Parishad and former president of the All Assam Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AAKRSU), said, “This is a great relief for our people who have suffered harassment in the name of detection and deportation. We’ve raised this issue for years, even during AGP and Congress governments, but no action has been taken.”
“This is a major step toward justice for us and is expected to ease the burden on thousands of families who have lived under the shadow of uncertainty for decades,” Ray added.
