GUWAHATI:

(37), a daily wage earner in Assam’s

, committed suicide purportedly due to frustration after spending up all his money in legal battle in the

(FT) to free his mother

from the doubtful “D” tag. Binoy’s body was found hanging from a tree at his house in

under

in the district, about 85 KM from here, on Sunday.

The process of “D” voter started in 1997 after the Election Commission of India in 1997 instructed to mark names of person whose citizenship is doubtful with the tag "D" in electoral rolls. There are an estimated 1.25 Lakh “D” voters in the state who cannot vote. “D” voters and their family members were also excluded from draft final

(NRC) till Foreigner’s Tribunal clears their names.

According to police, Binoy’s name was also not included in the final draft NRC that was released on July 30.

“We are looking into all aspects that led Binoy to commit suicide,” Baksa superintendent of police, Binoy Kalita said.

Neigbhours said Binoy had spent Rs 18,000 in fighting the case for his mother who worked in a local rice mill.

“Binoy became apparently frustrated when he came to know recently that he has to fight his mother’s case in the higher court. They led a hand-to-mouth existence and were left with no money to meet the expenditure for legal battle further. This might be the reason that led to his suicide,” Babul Dey, a neighbour said. Babul said that Binoy had a son who was born about 20 days back.

“The family is so poor that we neighbours had to collect money to carry the body for post mortem,” Babul said.

All Bodoland Territorial Council Bengali Students’ and Youth Federation (ABTCBSYF) chief adviser Shyamal Sarkar said that several Bengalis in the state are in tenterhooks after they failed to make it to the final draft NRC.

“Many from the community were tagged D voters arbitrarily despite possessing relevant documents of their citizenship. Many were declared foreigners. This is a hardship they have been bearing on for years. Prime Minister Modi promised to solve the issue of D voter, but nothing has been done yet. How long our community will continue to suffer,” Sarkar said.