Amaila Khatun, aged 45, and her husband Kalu Miyah aged 52 are daily-wage workers who have both been listed as D-voters. They have two young children in school – a boy in Class 5, and a girl in Class 9. Another son works at a shop in Guwahati, and visits home every other week.

They have each voted twice in the past, before the D-voter tag took away their voting rights.  They have had to attend roughly ten court hearings in an attempt to clear the suspicion and stigma attached to their names. The Foreigners' Tribunal court is fifteen kilometers away from their home. To get there, they are forced to walk four kilometers before they find other transport.

Over the years, they have had to make multiple trips back and forth for various reasons.

The couple has spent 40,000 rupees on lawyers' fees alone. They have had to take several loans, sell their possessions, including land, and pawn other things around the house just to meet these legal expenses.

In 2014, a judgement was finally passed at the Foreigners' Tribunal and they were both declared Indian. After years of struggle, it must have felt like their hard work and perseverance has paid off.

Five years later, on 31st August 2019, when the final NRC list appeared, Amaila Khatun and Kalu Miyah's names had been left out.