N. Hussain along with his family at Iswarijhar near Jogighopa of Assam’s Bongaigaon district was shocked at the exclusion of their 9-year-old daughter from the draft NRC and being ‘declared foreigner’.
The name of N. Hussain’s daughter S. Khatun, a student of Class 3, appeared in the NRC exclusion list published on June 26, 2019.
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A notice has been issued in the name of S. Khatun marking her as a ‘declared foreigner’.
Also read: A Marwari served foreigner’s notice in Assam this time
Duly-signed by the Majer Alga Local Registrar of Citizens Registration (LRCR) under Boitamari circle on June 29, the notice clearly mentioned that it is because that the girl S. Khatun, a student of class 3, was a declared foreigner, she was excluded in the NRC exclusion list.
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However, the family didn’t mind much as there was time for claim for inclusion her name in the final NRC list.
Also read: Apex court ‘raises eyebrows’ over foreigners’ detention case in Assam
But it was a bolt from blue for them when they received a notice from the NRC authority this week showing a cause of her exclusion.
“The notice created a panic situation as there were no cases of D-voter pending against anyone of the family members in any Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) of the state,” a relative told Northeast Now.
The relative further informed, “The family has all the citizenship records including the NRC of 1951 and accordingly, names of all the family members of N. Hussain were published in the first and final draft of the NRC.”
As per the NRC guidelines, persons whose names appear in NRC 1951 and persons, whose names appear in any of the electoral rolls up to March 24 midnight of 1971 and their descendants of the above persons will be entitled to get berth in the NRC.
“S. Khatun’s name should have been naturally included as her parents and her forefather’s names are there in all the voter lists and even in the two NRC draft lists. But it seems a conspiracy has been hatched by the state home department as the NRC authority has received the lists of declared foreigners from the home department,” said Rejaul Karim Sarkar, state president of the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) demanding justice for her.
“The border police of the home department should produce documents as to which FT court tried and declared the girl as a foreigner,” said Sarkar.
Meanwhile, amid the criticism received by the NRC authority, the parents of the family filed a fresh appeal at the designated office of the sub-divisional officer (SDO) at Abhayapuri on July 5 for re-inclusion of their daughter’s name in the final NRC.
Parthopratim Neog, circle officer and circle registrar of citizens’ registrar (CRCR) while talking to Northeast Now said, “Prima facie it seems a case of mistaken identity. There might be a declared foreigner by the same name which has been wrongly taken automatically by the software. The girl needs not to worry as their parents’ names are already there in the NRC list.”