The spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs reiterated on Monday that persons who have been excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be detained “under any circumstances” until all legal remedies are exhausted. “Such persons to continue to enjoy all rights as earlier, like any other citizen, eg. right to employment, education, property etc,” the spokesperson tweeted.
She further added that 200 new Foreigners Tribunals have been added, taking the total number of Foreigners Tribunals to 300. “State Government has also made necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to the needy people amongst those excluded from #NRCFinalList, by providing all assistance through the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA),” the spokesperson said.
In the final list released on Saturday, 30.1 million people were found eligible to be included, while more than 1.9 million were left out. Many Bengali Hindu refugees who had come to Assam before 1971, or people who couldn't furnish the necessary documents were excluded.
The BJP-led Assam government has reportedly termed the NRC as a “mixed bag”, and that there is room for errors. In this regard, the BJP has decided to move the Supreme Court again to re-verify select data.
According to Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Finance Minister and BJP's face in the northeast, the party would move the top court asking for a re-verification of 20% of the sample data in the districts bordering Bangladesh. The BJP will also seek re-verification of 10% of samples from the mainland of Assam. This demand will be against the draft NRC.
The draft NRC gave BJP a surprise when many from the border districts, where the population is dense, made it to the list. It was presumed that a majority of them were illegal Bangladeshis.
Himanta Biswa Sarma had said, "We have lost hope in the present form of the NRC right after the draft. When so many genuine Indians are left out, how can you claim that this document is a red letter for the Assamese society?"
Even Assam BJP President Ranjeet Kumar Dass has expressed his discontent over the final NRC list.
This would be the second time that the government is moving the Supreme Court for re-verification. In July, the court had rejected pleas for 20% sample re-verification.
“The NRC authority has registered many cases where documents were questionable after which we asked for a re-verification of 20% of the cases in border districts and 10% in other districts as we found that in border areas, where populations were high, deletions were low, whereas in tribal areas deletions were higher in proportion. The Supreme Court denied that request. We will go back again to the SC and ask that at least in two districts, on a pilot basis, re-verification should happen,” Sarma told the Hindu.
With IANS inputs