No More Cases Against Gorkhas In Foreigners' Tribunal: Assam Cabinet

There also are nearly 2,500 doubtful or D-voters from the Gorkha community whose cases are going on in the Foreigners' Tribunal.

The Assam cabinet decided on Wednesday that it will not register any case at the Foreigners' Tribunal against those excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or doubtful voters from Gorkha community and withdraw all the existing cases in the Tribunal against them. In a media statement, the Chief Minister's office said, "No new cases will be registered against Gorkha community in the state at the Foreigners' Tribunals and already registered cases will be withdrawn." The decision comes as a breather to the Gorkha community that had been living in a limbo about the status of their citizenship in India following the update of NRC in which several names from the community have been excluded. The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha (BGP), the only registered national organisation, representing 10.5 million Indian Gorkhas in 22 state units and five zones, that had earlier marked the exclusion from NRC as an "insult for being Indians" and were planning on filing a civil defamation suit, has welcomed the cabinet decision.