Akbar Ali appears to have finally got rid of his “foreigner” tag with foreigners tribunal (FT) No. 2 in Assam’s Bongaigaon district dropping the case against him on Tuesday.

This was the second case against Ali.

Ali, a resident of Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district, was first served a “foreigner” notice in 2007 by the office of the superintendent of police (border branch) of Bongaigaon. Ali had fought the case (No. 1432/2007) in FT 2 of Bongaigaon.

The case was adjudicated on December 31, 2015, declaring him a “foreigner” who had entered the country after 1971. He was then sent to Goalpara detention camp, from where he was released on bail on November 21, 2019. Within a week, he was served a second “foreigner” notice by the SP (B) Bongaigaon office.

FT member Eva Kakoti dropped the second case (No. 192/2019) against Ali, also on the request of the office of SP (B) of Bongaigaon.

“I am feeling relieved with this verdict. I have all the documents and I am not a foreigner,” Ali told reporters.

Monowar Hussain, a Jogighopa-based social worker, said, “Tagging a person as foreigner is very serious. One loses everything while fighting cases in courts trying to establish himself/herself as an Indian. We pray before every stakeholder to maintain extreme cautiousness in dealing with these cases.”

Fighting the first FT case had reduced Ali’s family to penury. His children had to leave school and his son had to pull a cart to support his family in the absence of his father.