People excluded from final Assam NRC list to get 10 months to prove their Indian citizenship 

Some Muslim residents of Assam showing their NRC application papers. 

New Delhi: The Assam Police have been preparing themselves for the start of an unprecedented complication that is expected after the publication of the state’s final National Register of Citizens on August 31. The Assam government has decided to offer window of 10 months for those who excluded from the final NCR to prove their Indian identity before they are sent to the detention centres. 

The Supreme Court had fixed August 31 to be the deadline for the state to come out with the final list of the NRC. Already, the state’s chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, has hinted that his government may enact a law to give a window period for those who had been wrongfully excluded from the list.

Police officials in Assam, on Thursday, expressed concern over impending crisis and complications for months ahead of publication of NRC. 

The Assam’s additional chief secretary in charge of home and political departments, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, said, “We cannot say how many will be left out. But each of them will have a window of at least 10 months to challenge his or her exclusion.”

The outgoing Assam director general of police, Kuladhar Saikia, while assuring that entire process will be completed peacefully, said adequate security measures have been adapted by the police and other forces on Saturday to ensure peaceful process. 

The police officer said that the entire process will take months if not years to complete and excluded people will not be immediately sent to the detention centres. “It is not as if the NRC-rejects would be shoved into the detention centres immediately after the final list is published. The process will take months, if not years, to complete as the people struck off the citizens’ list can go to the High Court and the Supreme Court if they fail to establish their citizenship at the Foreigners’ Tribunals,” the officer said.

The central government has provided assistance to Assam to establish create e-foreigners’ tribunals and increase the existing number of foreigners’ tribunals. Around 200 additional Foreigners’ Tribunals are expected to be set up by September. 

More than 41 lakh people out of 3.29 crore applicants were excluded from the NRC with two rejection lists published on July 30, 2018 and June 26, 2019 respectively. At least 20 lakh people, out of those who have reapplied for the inclusion, are speculated to be excluded from the final list.

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