Assam woman regains voting rights nearly decade after proving citizenship
Silchar: Anjali Roy from Assam has finally regained her voting rights nine years after proving her citizenship, ending a prolonged period of humiliation and deprivation of government facilities due to suspicions of being an undocumented immigrant.
Roy, along with her brother, was scrutinized by the Foreigners Tribunal in Silchar for lacking the necessary documents for police verification. Tragically, her brother's suicide intensified her determination to establish her Indian identity, according to a report by Hindustan Times.
After a three-year legal battle, Roy successfully proved her nationality in 2015. However, her name was subsequently removed from the voter list, which blocked her access to essential benefits and identification services. "I was denied food security benefits. I did not get Aadhar and could not open a bank account," Roy shared, as reported by Hindustan Times. Despite requesting election officials to restore her name on the voter list before the 2016 Assembly elections, she was asked to wait.
The situation worsened in 2022 when Roy’s 83-year-old mother received a notice questioning her citizenship status. Roy revealed that she contemplated suicide but refrained to avoid adding to her children's burden.
Social activist Kamal Chakraborty expressed shock at Roy's consideration to apply for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Chakraborty noted that Roy's family felt they had no other recourse. Election officials mentioned that the voter list for the 2024 general elections had already been finalized, indicating Roy’s name could only be included before an upcoming poll. A by-election eventually provided the opportunity for Roy to re-register as a voter.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
