On July 18, CJP had published a list of names of people who had died in connection with issues related to citizenship and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. The list contained 58 names. Since then, two more people have died.
On July 21, Rohim Uddin, a resident of Kacharigaon, Lanka in Hojai district, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison. It is alleged that he took this extreme step because his name had appeared in the Additional Exclusion List published on June 26.
CJP’s Volunteer Motivator Jamir Uddin Talukdar reported, “Rohim Uddin’s name was included in the final draft of the NRC that was published on July 31, 2018. However, on June 26, 2019, his name appeared in the exclusion list. When he came to know about this, he approached his LRCR of his own NSK. The LRCR told him that his legacy data was cancelled few days ago. So, there is no option to include his name in final NRC.
The LRCR also told him that for using the wrong legacy data he may be punished with an amount of Rs. 50,000 and three years of imprisonment.” This allegedly frustrated Rohim Uddin to the point that he allegedly consumed poison on July 19. But luckily he survived as his family promptly took him to a private hospital in Hojai. But he was released on July 20 due to floods putting an unprecedented burden on the hospital’s resources. “On July 21, he attempted suicide again by consuming poison and this time he died,” said Talukdar.
According to Rohim Uddin’s documents, his father was registered as Bashir Ali in the Voter List of 1971, which Rahim Uddin used as legacy data. But his father was popularly known as Bashir Uddin, which was used in all other documents post 1971. Due to this, Rahim Uddin’s name was excluded from the NRC. Interestingly, names of all others in his family remain intact.
The second person to die was Jamir Uddin Sheikh of Dangaigaon village in Chirang district of lower Assam. He died of a cardiac arrest on July 22. CJP Community Volunteer Pranay Tarafdar reported, “Jamir Uddin Sheikh had all valid documents, and yet he was declared foreigner by the Bongaigaon Foreigners Tribunal. Subsequently he applied for bail in Gauhati High Court. The Gauhati High Court accepted the bail application and he was living at his home on bail. He was frustrated that not a single name of his family appeared in final draft of NRC as he is a Declared Foreigner in the eyes of law.” It is believed that this is what caused his cardiac arrest and death.