Behind the grille door guarding entry to the district jail in Goalpara, situated around 150km from the Assam state capital of Guwahati, is a note in fading white paint. It appropriates the voice of prospective inmates: "Dear Lord, I regret the wrong I have committed. Help me rebuild a new life now."
It is a note Md Kismat Ali, 42, did not have time to read when he was whisked - harried and helpless - through that door one August morning in 2015. He had been accused by the police of being a foreigner. By the time India's top court reinstated his citizenship and granted him freedom, he had spent two years, two months and 17 days - Mr Ali remembers the exact length of time clearly - in the lock-up.
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