HAILAKANDI, Feb 29 - After 43 months of �incarceration�, Sukhdev Ree (48) of Hailakandi district in South Assam was released from a detention camp in Silchar on bail.
A resident of Algapur area of Hailakandi district, Ree was sent to the detention camp on June 24, 2016 by the foreigners tribunal of Hailakandi.
A poor tea garden labourer of Barnie Brease Tea Estate of Algapur, Sukhdev was served notice by police as a foreigner in 2012.
Later in 2013, the case was forwarded to the court, but due to paucity of funds, Ree could not engage a lawyer nor go for litigation. Subsequently in 2016, Ree was sent to the detention camp after a one-sided judgement.
When police took Ree to the camp, his wife Sishubala was literally shattered, along with a son and a daughter to fend for. It was then that her tragic struggle in life began. It was almost impossible for her to challenge the court verdict due to pecuniary problems.
Sishubala said that she could not afford to hire an advocate as they demanded atleast Rs 3,000 per attendance.
She said that it was very difficult for her to go to Silchar to meet her husband due to financial crisis. She alleged that the lawyers whom she approached demanded huge amounts of fee, which was beyond her financial capacity.
Ultimately, members of a non-government organisation on coming to know about her plight visited her house a few months back and assured to extend all possible help for the release of Ree. Sishubala added that she failed to secure bail for her husband due to dearth of money.
As per a ruling of the Supreme Court, a person who has already spent three years in a detention camp should be released forthwith, following which Ree was released on bail on Thursday after spending 43 months under �incarceration�.
Speaking before the media soon after his release, Ree said that he was fed up with the lackadaisical attitude of the government and had therefore lost all faith on the goodwill of the official machinery.
Seeking relief from the official tug-of-war, he clarified that even though he was out on bail, but he was still a foreigner in the eye of the law.
He claimed that his father�s name was very much there in the voters� roll of 1966, and that they were living in the tea garden since the last so many years and had no background whatsoever in Pakistan or Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned here that Assam has six detention camps, and one among them is situated in Silchar. However, doubtful foreigners are kept in the central jail, which is also treated as a detention camp. The other camps are located at Dibrugarh, Tezpur, Jorhat, Kokrajhar and Goalpara respectively.
