91-year-old Assam woman declared D Voter, served notice to prove her Indian Citizenship

By: Mehtab Uddin Ahmed:

91-year-old Moyna Barman, who was declared a doubtful voter (D Voter) in the year 2007, has served notice to appear before a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) to prove her 'citizenship' of India.

According to Barman, she lived in the riverine regions of Dhubri district along the Indo-Bangladesh border area all her life. She informed that she was born in the Maitel village adjacent to the Indo-Bangladesh border which falls under the jurisdiction of the Golakganj police station and is located in the Gauripur Legislative Assembly Council in Dhubri district.

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“I was named Moyna at birth and that is my only name,” she says. “But back in the day, I was so beautiful, people started calling me Devi meaning goddess and that’s how my name got distorted in official records and it got recorded as Moyna Moti Devi in the NRC,” explains the old lady in a trembling voice, recalling her past with tears in her eyes.

I’m uneducated, but why did the educated people make this mistake,” she asks “why such a small thing cannot be corrected and people like us do not know much official works are harassed?”

The woman belongs to the Rajbongshi community which is seen among the original inhabitants of Assam, has to prove her citizenship because of a nickname given to her, informed Habibul Bepari, District Volunteer Motivator, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP).

“The 1951 NRC gave her age was 20, now she is in her 90s,” said Bepari who visited Moyna to investigate the issue.

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