Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha challenges ST status of MP Naba Sarania, files petition in court

Our Correspondent

Kokrajhar: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) again filed petition in Gauhati High Court on Monday challenging the ST status of Kokrajhar MP Naba Kumar Sarania, who belongs to non-notified class of people.

Talking to reporters in Kokrajhar on Tuesday, the working president of the BJSM, Daorao Dekhreb Narzary said a fresh petition had been filed in Gauhati High Court on July 8 challenging the ST status of MP Naba Kumar Sarania who won from Kokrajhar (ST) HPC in the last Lok Sabha election for the second term. He said Sarania acquired fake ST certificate and his candidature in the reserved ST seat was illegal. He also said they approached the HC and filed petition vide No. GAHC010158132019 issued by the Gauhati High Court in the matter of filing of an Election Petition vide El.Pet./9721/2019 dated 08-07-2019 where the petitioner is Daorao Dekhreb Narzary and the respondent is Naba Kumar Sarania.

Narzary said in 2014, Naba Kumar Sarania, who originally belonged to Soru Koch community, won the 5 no. Kokrajhar (ST) constituency seat under the garb of Boro Kachari by a huge margin. Janaklal Basumatary and Ashok Kumar Brahma then challenged Naba Kumar Sarania’s ST certificate in the Gauhati High Court. However, Justice Suman Shaym pronounced his verdict in favour of Naba Kumar Sarania vide order dated 9.6.2017. They then appealed to the Supreme Court of India vide Civil Appeal No(S). 10194/2017, he said, adding that the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi could not find any fault with the order of the Gauhati High Court and hence he dismissed the appeal by his order dated October 31, 2018.

He said the Supreme Court just sought evidence from them whether ST certificate of Sarania issued by the Tribal Sangha was fake. He, however, said the court would decide whether the Tribal Sangha was authorized to issue ST certificate to non-tribal people but the fact remained that Naba Kumar Sarania belonged to Soru Koch, which is under OBC category and not notified ST community.

Also read: ‘Migratory communities cannot get ST status in Assam’: BJSM