Bail for ex-Armyman who was declared a foreigner'

Guwahati: A division bench of the Gauhati high court on Friday granted bail to Mohammad Sanaullah, the retired army man who was declared a “foreigner” and is currently lodged in a detention camp in Assam.

The bench while hearing the writ petition has also issued notices to the Assam government, the government of India, election commission of India and NRC authorities.

The court, which is yet to look into the merit of the case, however has put certain condition like submitting his biometric record to the authorities and not leaving the territorial limit of the court without its prior permission besides depositing a surety bond of '20,000 to the court. A resident of Kolohikash village in Boko area of Kamrup district, Md. Sanaullah after his retirement from army in 2017 was serving as a sub-inspector in Assam Border Police before being declared a “foreigner” on May 23 and dismissed from service.

Meanwhile Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has urged Union home minister Amit Shah to ensure “justice” to veteran Mohammad Sanaullah, who has been recently declared a ‘foreigner’ and sent to a detention camp.

Mr Gogoi, in his letter to Mr Shah, made available to the media on Thursday, urged him to institute an inquiry into the alleged inefficiency of the police officers who verified his documents and the subsequent declaration of the former army personnel as ‘foreigner’ by the Foreigners’ Tribunal at Boko.

Though, the case of Md. Sanaullah has ran into a major controversy the Foreigners Tribunal has refused to re-look in its order while claiming that the tribunal has passed the order on the basis of documents submitted by the accused.

According to the observation of the Foreigners Tribunal, Md. Sanaullah’s name has been mentioned as Marjyo-Ullah, aged 25 years, in the voter list of 1989.