A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi reportedly said, “There are disturbing reports in the media and media is not always incorrect.” The court also reportedly added,“There is a deadline and timeframe but that doesn’t mean that the officers cut short and just complete the process only to complete it. Merely disposing of 70 percent claims till today is not good unless the disposal is properly done. Please ensure that.”

As far as the Claims and Objections process is concerned, we had broken the story of how people were being forced to file false objection applications. We had also reported earlier today on how a Kargil war veteran, who had dedicated 30 years of service to the nation, was declared a foreigner and sent to a detention camp, showing how the wider process of ascertaining the citizenship of people was flawed and required urgent checks and balances.

There have been several other similar shocking instances of families of prominent citizens being harassed such as when the citizenship of the family of former Indian President FA Ahmed was questioned. The family of Maulvi Mohammed Amiruddin who was the deputy speaker of the Assam Assembly and even the family of Puran Bahadur Chetry who served in the Azad Hind Fauj and fought for India’s independence were similarly harassed.

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Image Courtesy: cjp.org.in
 
Goswami has had to line up with his entire family at a hearing center in Barpeta Road after All Assam Student’s Union (AASU) workers filed objections against inclusion of his name in final draft of updated NRC. We spoke to him when he was waiting at the NRC Objection hearing center. He told us, “I am an indigenous Assamese. I was born and raised in Rampur village under Barnagar revenue circle of Barpeta erstwhile Kamrup District. The village Rampur never witnessed immigration. However, I wasn’t spared because my father’s name was recorded in my voter’s identity card as Dharmeswar Dev instead of Dharmeswar Dev Goswami.” This is not unheard of in Assam and several people have suffered because of incorrect names or spellings appearing in electoral rolls or voter identity cards.
 
Goswami is also the General Secretary of Forum for Social Harmony, a group that works actively to restore unity in Assam, a state that is being torn apart along communal and ethnic lines. He told us, “Though I am an Assamese by birth, they felt that Dharmeswar Dev must be a Bengali title as Goswami after Dev was omitted from my voter’s identity card.  Only for that reason one Dhanmoni Kakati and Rahul Sutradhar, who is also vice-president of the Barpeta local committee of AASU filed objections against inclusion of my name in the final draft of updated NRC.”

 
Har Kumar Goswami feels that this is an illegal objection. He says, “The objection filed against me is not a valid one. The state Co-ordinator, NRC, Prateek Hajela served a protocol for reconciliation to all District Register for Citizens Registration (DRCR) on January 2, 2019 to prevent harassment in the name of updating NRC. As per that protocol for reconciliation, the objectors must submit their name, proper address, ARN and phone number in the objection letter. But the objection filed by Dhanmoni Kakati and Rahul Sutradhar didn’t fulfil this criteria.  The addresses of Dhanmoni Kakati and Rahul Sutradhar were not cited properly in their objection form against me. Also, they didn’t recorded their ARN and phone number which they filed against me.”
 
Goswami also alleges “racial discrimination” given how the objection was based on his father’s name that is considered to belong to a person from the Bengali speaking community, who are perceived to be ethnically distinct from the Assamese speaking community. He also worries about the deteriorating economy of Assam and the mounting financial burdens borne by some of the most socio-economically weak people. Goswami says, “I had to use two different vehicles and travel over 100 kilometers to attend this hearing with my family. Imagine how poor people are faring. The economy has come to a stand-still as people are forced to stop working when they have to stand in queue for such hearings!”
 
He also mentioned seeing a black cat commando who Goswami says was an official with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s security detail. Goswami says, “He had come from UP. He said that he wanted to file defamation and criminal case against the objectors.  But as their address is not declared in the objection form, he will file defamation and criminal case against the NRC officials who are responsible for accepting such invalid objection.” 
 
Har Kumar Goswami is only one of the two lakh people against whom objections have been filed by chauvinist forces in Assam. The final NRC is expected to be published by July 31 in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order in the matter.
 

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We have copies of complaints filed by some such people from Kokrajhar district of Assam, who claim that they were forced by members of the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) to put their signatures on as many as 10 Objection forms!

The letters are addressed to the District Registrar of Citizens Registration and each complainant’s letter carries the ARN numbers of all people against whom the respective complainants were forced to file objection applications. All complainants have appealed that no action be taken against the innocent genuine citizens against whom the objection applications were filed. The complainants have withdrawn their objections in the letter and instead demanded action against the ABSU members who forced them to file the false objections.

The incidents of coercion by ABSU members allegedly took place in December 2018, just days before the deadline for filing objections. The complaint letters that can be seen here show that how the unwilling objectors were labourers and that the ABSU members came from an office situated in Narabari Anchalik. Four such complaint letters may be read here:

Following reports of the possibility of false objection applications, opposition parties are up in arms. The Assam INC leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia issued a strongly worded statement on the subject on Wednesday. He says, “It is a matter of great concern that widespread complaints have arisen about a concerted campaign to harass religious and linguistic minorities during the NRC-related claims and objections process, which started recently.”

Saikia adds, “A nefarious force has conspired to intentionally register bulk complaints with the NRC authorities, questioning the citizenship of genuine citizens belonging to the minority communities.” He gives the example of complaints against several descendants of Late Osman Ali Sadagar, who was an MLA from the undivided Nagaon district in the pre-Independence era (1937-1946).

Saikia goes on to not only allege that the complaints are motivated, but also that the NRC authorities may be deliberately harassing people from minority communities by scheduling their hearings in far flung places. Mincing no words, Saikia says, “Even the NRC authorities are playing a dubious role when it comes to harassment of minority groups. Many people whose citizenship has been called into question have been summoned to far-flung NRC Seva Kendras despite the existence of Seva Kendras near their areas of residence.” He gives an example of one family where, “one member of a certain family has been summoned for hearing to Kokrajhar while another member has been summoned to Udalguri on the same day.” He also highlights how this is not only a logistical nightmare, but is also leading to financial hardships for impoverished families.

A copy of the statement is marked to both, the Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner. The entire statement may be read here:

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