CRPCC seeks Hajela's intervention over NRC-harassment to citizens

The Citizens’ Rights Protection Co-Ordination Committee, a conglomerate of different organisations and civil society groups in Barak Valley, staged a demonstration in front of Cachar deputy commissioner’s office in Silchar on Saturday in protest against the alleged harassment to people in the name of document re-verification regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update process.

The final draft NRC, published on July 30, 2018, featured the names of around 2.89 crore citizens out of 3.29 crore citizens in Assam. Around 40.70 lakh citizens’ names were left out.

The committee members gathered in front of the deputy commissioner’s office around 12:50pm this afternoon and staged the demonstration. A memorandum was thereafter submitted to state NRC co-ordinator Prateek Hajela (through the Cachar district administration) seeking fulfillment of a number of demands related to the NRC process.

The memorandum said a large number of citizens, whose names have already appeared in the final draft NRC, are being summoned to distant NRC centres for re-verification of documents. The final draft NRC has been after a thorough examination of documents and surprisingly people are being asked to report to centres despite no objections registered against them. This involves huge expenditure along with mental and physical harassment, the memorandum said.

The committee members stated that the step by the NRC authorities is not only beyond the jurisprudence but also puts the credibility of the previous verification of documents (done for preparation of the final draft NRC) in questions. They demanded that the re-verification process be withdrawn completely. Even if conducted, it should be within the local NSKs. In case, a person is summoned to a distant NSK, the person’s expenditure should be borne by the NRC authorities, they said.

The memorandum mentioned about a recent incident when a group of people from Hojai, who were summoned for re-verification of their documents at an NSK under Katigorah constituency in Cachar district, were beaten up a gang of unidentified miscreants. This has created panic among people and as such the NRC authorities must ensure the safety and security of people, if summoned to far-flung NSKs for re-verification.

The memorandum said that a large number of genuine citizens were kept out of the final draft NRC on the plea of pending cases in foreigners’’ tribunals whereas most of them submitted authentic documents in respect of their citizenship previously and they are now being instructed by the LRCRs to produce “not pending FT” case certificate from the tribunals. This is simply an uncalled-for harassment to such applicants. The members demanded that the persons’ names (who previously submitted documents to prove their citizenship) be included in the final NRC.

Committee members Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, Saurindra Bhattacharjee, Sanat Koiri, Rafique Ahmed and Rahul Das Gupta among others were present. The demonstration concluded around 1:30pm.