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NRC shadow still looms over Assam

Those excluded from it, continue to live in limbo

NRC Assam
Image: National Herald

A petition has been filed before the Gauhati High Court seeking directions to issue rejection orders passed after the Claims and Objections process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was carried out for those excluded from the final draft of the NRC published in July 2018. The people who failed to clear the Claims and Objections process, were excluded from the final NRC published on August 31, 2019.

Now, as per procedure, the next step for these people is to defend their citizenship before Foreigners’ Tribunals (FT), nearly 200 of which will be pressed into service for this purpose. However, there’s a catch! These people cannot apply to the FT without knowing the reason for rejection, which is recorded in the speaking order of the Claims Officer that is yet to be published in their respective rejection slips. The process was slow on the uptake from the beginning itself and then suspended in wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, the petitioners’ citizenship status is in limbo due to the delay in issuance of these orders. However, their citizenship status is not the only thing they have been deprived of.

In this piece we explore the pertinent pleadings of the petition as well as the many deprivations of the population of Assam living under the shadows of an uncertain NRC process that has haunted their lives for generations.

The petition

The petitioners and their family members were excluded from the final draft of the NRC of July 2018 as well as the final NRC of August 2019 despite submitting valid documents. However, they await the rejection slips from NRC authorities which would enable them to prove their citizenship before a Foreigners Tribunal. The petitioners state that withholding of the NRC rejection orders violates their fundamental rights..

“Even after passing of two years and five months, the authorities have not yet issued the rejection orders to the petitioners and thus the petitioners have been arbitrarily denied their statutory right to appeal against exclusion from NRC. The citizenship status and the right to have rights of the petitioners are being kept in limbo and under the cloud of doubt for an indefinite period thereby denying their fundamental and legal rights under the Constitution of India and the laws framed thereunder,” the plea states as reported by LiveLaw.

The plea specifies that they are unable to file an appeal under Paragraph 8 of the Schedule to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 read with the Clause 2(1B) of the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964 which means that their citizenship status has been in limbo and continues to remain so until these rejection orders are issued. The petitioners have been running from pillar to post since 2015, when they first submitted their application to be included in the NRC. But now, 7 years later, their citizenship status still remains undetermined for no fault of their own.

The petitioners cited the Supreme Court’s judgment in Assam Public Works vs UOI whereby the court was monitoring the NRC process in Assam and had directed that the process ought to reach its logical conclusion in a time bound manner.

Unable to cast votes

It has also been pointed out that 200 additional Foreigners Tribunals sanctioned in September 2019 have not yet become functional, and there are more than 1 lakh doubtful voters who have been unable to cast their vote for the last 24 years, as their cases are pending before the Tribunals.

Aadhaar cards

The plea also makes a pertinent point about their inability to get their Aadhaar cards, which has further prevented them from linking Aadhaar with PAN card. Thus they have been denied various services like applying online for driving license, getting online registration in Employment Exchange, old age pensions, ration at subsidised rates and a host of other welfare schemes.

The petitioners also bring forth the fact that their biometric data has been collected and withheld by the state government, and in many cases even those included in the final NRC have not been able to get Aadhaar cards. They would also miss the March 31, 2022 deadline for linking Aadhaar with PAN. The petitioners and scores of people like them would be deprived of all of the welfare schemes of the government on account of not having an Aadhaar card.

The petitioners thus prayed for a stay on the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar Cards for any financial transactions, benefits and entitlements under welfare schemes and other Government purposes in respect of the petitioners till disposal of this petition, states the LiveLaw report.

Social stigma

“That the exclusion of the petitioners from the final NRC published on 31-08-2019 has subjected them to be socially stigmatised as being doubtful, having a question mark upon legitimacy of their existence in this country. They have been, de-facto, treated as second class citizens. The social stigma and humiliation has been taking a great toll on their mental wellbeing causing unbearable mental agony and putting them in an existential crisis. It is pertinent here to mention that after publication of NRC it was reported by the media that a large number of people died by suicide,” the plea further avers.

The plight of the NRC neglected

Apart from what has been mentioned in the plea, there are multiple ways in which the person excluded from NRC have been denied and excluded from benefits from the government.

No rehabilitation post eviction

In November 2021, the Assam government told the Gauhati High Court that rehabilitation of persons displaced due to the eviction drives in Darrang will only take place after ascertaining their citizenship. Advocate General Debojit Sakia submitted that rehabilitation of evicted and displaced people will be carried out and that 1,000 bhigas of land were set aside for this purpose. However, in order to determine eligibility, it will have to be ascertained if the evicted people were indeed landless migrants, including ascertaining if they had a similar status in the districts from where they had originally migrated. He further said, it would have to be determined if they were landless on account of effects of erosion. Finally, he submitted that their names will have to be checked against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to ascertain if they are indeed Indian citizens.

Flood victims further victimised

In July 2020, five people from the flood-hit Dhalpur village in Darrang district of Assam were sent notices to appear before a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) in Mangaldoi to defend their Indian citizenship. This was at a time when the entire region was under 7-8 feet of water. The CJP team had to take a boat to get there! But what was even more shocking is how breaking from protocol, the notices were not actually served to the people in question, but sent via Whatsapp to the Gram Panchayat President.

In November 2021, FT notices were served upon residents of Jaraguri and Jamdoha village in Bongaigaon district who were affected by floods, found CJP’s Assam team. “Residents of Jaraguri village mainly depend on agriculture. But each year flood from Aie river wreaks havoc on their lives,” says Nanda Ghosh, CJP Assam state team in-charge. “Many families have been forced to live by the roadside for three years, because their homes were first washed away and later, they could not return due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says.

Improper serving of notices

In April 2021, the Assam team of CJP came across many FT notices pasted on electricity poles in Bongaigaon in Assam in clear violation of procedure laid down explicitly by the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order of 1964. As per point 3 of this order that deals with Procedure for disposal of questions, there are several steps that need to be followed when notice is served to the person against whom a foreigner reference is made.

In this regard, CJP approached the Deputy Commissioner, Bongaigaon, Principal Secretary to the Government of Assam and Superintendent of Police (Border). CJP also urged that a “public declaration made that any notice served under the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964 without following due procedure laid down therein, shall not be considered valid and will not trigger the 120-day period for the proceedee to appear before the FT to prove his/her citizenship or for that matter any proceedings under the Foreigners Act, 1946.”

DLSAs unprepared for NRC appeals

As per a survey of 10 Assam District Legal Services Authority (DSLA)  conducted by CJP, they have 273 active advocates devoted/appointed especially for legal aid, and 333 Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs). However, the educational qualifications required to become a PLV varied significantly for different districts. Further, in none of the 10 districts surveyed, has any training on the Citizenship, Immigration, NRC, Foreigners Act, etc. been provided so far.

CJP then filed a petition before the High Court and in response, the Assam State Legal Services Authority indicated in its affidavit that it is in need of financial resources to provide legal aid to the large chunk of the state’s population.

No Aadhaar

As per the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, every resident of India is entitled to an Aadhaar card where resident means any person who has lived in India for more than 182 days in the 12 months preceding the enrolment. Which means that a person cannot be deprived of an Aadhaar card if he/she fulfills this requirement. However, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)/modalities for disposal of claims and objections in the updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) 1951 in Assam- was approved by the Supreme Court in November 2018 whereby those left out of the draft NRC list published on July 31, 2018, had to mandatorily submit their biometrics during the hearings of ‘claims’ (to include themselves in the NRC) and ‘objections’ (to object to someone else’s inclusion) process, and only those included in the NRC were permitted to get an Aadhaar card.

All these circumstances combined demonstrate the plight of those who are under the scrutiny of the state government due to being served notices by FTs or because of being excluded from the NRC. Apart from the social stigma, the hanging sword of determination of citizenship is something they live with every passing day of their lives. They also face difficulties in getting benefits of government welfare schemes and other services which are easily accessible to residents of other states in the country. This does not only put them at a disadvantage when compared to the rest of the country, but is also an attack on their right to equality and right against discrimination which is less likely to pass the test of reasonable classification against them.

In all probability, most of them are genuine citizens of this country and not illegal immigrants or foreigners, as has been claimed by the indigenous population of the state and governments over the years. Yet, they have had to live with this stigma for years together and in the process be deprived of benefits which they are entitled to by virtue of being not just citizens of the country but also residents in general.

Related:

Assam DLSAs unprepared for deluge of NRC appeals: CJP survey

Pasting FT notices on electricity poles a violation of set law, procedure

Foreigners’ Tribunals: Why were they established and how do they operate?

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