The family of a declared foreigner who died of illness after two years in an Assam detention centre has refused to accept his body for the third day on Tuesday.
The refusal has put the Sonitpur district administration in a spot because of complications in disposing of the body of a “non-Indian.”
Dulal Paul died of diabetes and renal failure on October 13, two years after he was declared a foreigner and lodged at Assam’s Tezpur detention centre.
The 65-year-old died at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital, about 130 km southwest of his home in Alisinga village in Sonitpur district. His wife Renu Rani Paul and three sons said they will accept the body only if the government declares him an Indian in writing.
“What if we cremate him and the government punishes us for performing the last rites of a Bangladeshi?” said Ashish Paul, one of the three sons.
