Three years after arrest, a 59-year-old woman, who was declared a foreigner in a case of "mistaken identity", walked out of a detention camp in Assam's Kokrajhar on Wednesday, June 26.
Madhubala Mandal was released after the border branch of Assam Police, the agency responsible for identifying foreigners in the state, admitted that they had picked her up instead of Madhubala Das, due to a faulty investigation.
"An inquiry revealed she was the victim of mistaken identity. She was set free after a police officer was sent to the Kokrajhar detention camp with a copy of the court's order for her release," Sudhakar Singh, Chirang's Superintendent of Police reportedly said.
Clarification on compensation for wrongful detention of Mandal has not been obtained yet.
According to an NDTV report, Mandal could not challenge the police when they arrested her because she is extremely poor and illiterate. Her case only came to light when a few social workers from Chirang district came to know about her detention that they brought the matter to the Assam government's attention.
The case comes in the backdrop of the exclusion of an additional 1.02 lakh people from the final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) list.
Earlier this month, 40-year-old Amila Sah from Dholaibeel in Sonitpur district was sent to a detention centre in Assam after the Foreigners Tribunal declared her a foreigner. But her family members, including her siblings, were a part of the National Register of Citizens draft.
Last month, a retired Army personnel Mohammad Sanaullah was declared an illegal immigrant by a tribunal and sent to a detention centre in Assam. He is now out on bail after an order issued by the Gauhati High Court, which issued notices to the Election Commission, National Register of Citizens authorities and the Assam Border Police.
