JCO asked to prove citizenship a case of mistaken identity:

After facing embarrassment over a notice served to a retired army officer to prove his citizenship, the Assam Police today termed it as a case of "mistaken identity".

Md Azmal Haque, an Assam-based retired Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), had said that a foreigners tribunal sent him a notice last month asking him to prove that he was an Indian citizen and not an illegal Bangladeshi migrant.

The notice had placed him in the D-voter or doubtful- voter category.

Talking to reporters this evening, Assam Director General of Police Mukesh Sahay said following initial inquiry, it "appears that it is a case of mistaken identity due to the close similarity in the names of the JCO and the suspected foreigner on which the notice was intended to be served".
 

The notice was intended to be served on Md Azmal Haque, son of Maqbool Ali, of village Kalahikas under Boko police station but was served on the retired army JCO Azmal Haque, son of Mokbul Hussain of the same village.

"It clearly shows that the case was registered against a different person and not the retired JCO. Unfortunately, due to the similarity of their names, the notice appears to have been wrongly served on the retired JCO," Sahay said.

Preliminary inquiry suggests that the local police could not serve the notice in the first attempt and brought it back to Boko police station but the retired JCO had it collected through his brother though the border police had suggested that the notice was perhaps not meant for him.

"The chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) has directed that the matter should be investigated expeditiously and accountability for lapses, if any, resulting in the wrong service of the notice," Sahay said.

The offices of Director General (Border) and Superintendent of Police of Kamrup (Rural) district have been directed to investigate the matter and submit the findings, fixing the accountability, within a week.

Assam Police has already contacted senior army officials and explained the matter to them and is also in touch with the retired JCO to resolve the matter, the DGP added.