Assam: Muslim man, arrested in May crackdown on ‘foreigners’, dies in detention

A 56-year-old Muslim man of Bengali origin who was arrested in May amid a crackdown on declared foreigners in Assam died in detention on Sunday. He was suffering from cancer, which was detected on August 11.

Amzad Ali, a resident of Rowmari village under Tarabari Police Station of Barpeta district, had been lodged in the Matia detention centre with since his arrest on May 28.

Ali died at the State Cancer Institute Guwahati, where he had been admitted on Thursday, Dwipen Khanikar, the medical superintendent of the facility, told Scroll.

“His health first deteriorated in the camp in August and we sent him to the Goalpara Civil Hospital, from where he was referred to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital on August 1,” said an official at the Matia detention centre.

On August 11, his clinical reports showed that he was suffering from cancer.

“Doctors at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital had said that there is no treatment for the cancer and he will be given only palliative care,” the detention centre official told Scroll. “We were taking his care at the transit camp. But his health became serious as he stopped eating.”

On September 1, Ali’s cousin Abdul Jalil wrote to the Goalpara Deputy Commissioner seeking his release on account of his cancer...

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