Citizen group for inclusion of Indian Evidence Act in NRC update

Special Correspondent

 SILCHAR, July 4: Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), Assam strongly condemns the government for its failure to channelize the update process of NRC in the right direction. Nripendra Chandra Saha, president and Sadhan Purkayastha, secretary general and Bidhayak Das Purkayastha, general secretary of the Committee opined that the procedure and manner in which the update work of NRC is carried out is itself a faulty one.

 There are numerous anomalies in the system which have been highlighted in the memorandum submitted to the State Coorditor of NRC, Assam, on May 16, 2015. But unfortutely, the government has not taken any steps to rectify the anomalies which have resultant in untoward incidents of suicide, heart-attack, attempt to suicide, and other forms of suicidal attempts as reported from different parts of the state.

 The CRPC leaders stated that they apprehended the situation of today well in advance and requested the State Coorditor of NRC, Assam, to get rid of all the anomalies as soon as possible because out of sheer fear, agony, distress and humiliation people might be forced to take any self-killing decision any moment being puzzled and perplexed. In view of the tragic happenings, CRPC impresses upon the state government and NRC authorities to ensure that the common people are not forced to adopt any suicidal steps. This may ultimately affect the update process.

 Highlighting the anomalies, the leaders of CRPC forcefully argued that the 1951 NRC is in contravention of legal injunction against it and is incomplete and faulty in ture. The voters’ list of 1971 is also incomplete, faulty and elusive evidence. Voters’ lists of 1952, 1957, 1962, 1965 are not available with the Seva Kendras in spite of the Supreme Court’s directive on June 17, 2013.

 The number of Seva Kendras established are not sufficient, considered against the large volume of applicants for update. The number of computers, printers, scanner machines in the Seva Kendras are also insufficient and of poor quality which remains out of order most of the time. The staffs employed for the NRC project are insufficient and not properly trained, which create lot of problem for the people who often are misguided by them.

 The genuine Indian citizens are facing problems in obtaining counter signs of circle officers on the linkage certificates for married women. The government has not yet clarified its stand whether the cases of married women from other states will be considered as they are Indian citizens and the update is going on of the tiol Register of Citizens and not the Assam Register of Citizens.

 A section of touts and middleman are operating throughout the state who are misguiding, misleading and squeezing money from the people in the me of giving them application forms, filling it up, providing linkage data, certificates, among others. In some places, people have even failed to receive the application forms as these are not sufficient in number. More and more anomalies are cropping up every day. CRPC leaders stated that in the list of documents birth certificates and tency records up to March 24, 1971 midnight are to be accepted as documentary proof.

 But, the Government of India implemented the registration of birth and death through an Act on 1969 and the Assam Government implemented the Tency Act (Temporarily settled areas), Assam Act XXII of 1971. Question now arises, since the deadline is March 24, 1971 and one Tency Act was implemented in 1969 and the other in 1971, how many people got the opportunity to possess these documents? Against this background and with all such anomalies, how far it is possible to reach the mission of making an error free, hassle free and foolproof NRC within the framework of present system and guidelines.

 The leaders of CRPC strongly demand adequate compensation for the families of the victims who gave up their lives for being mentally and physically tortured due to the wrong policies of the government and expressed their heartfelt solidarity with the bereaved families. CRPC also demands that if the government is really interested to enlist the mes of Indian citizens without harassing and depriving them of their legitimate right to be a part of update process, it should consider the circumstantial evidences of the people and put into practice the Indian Evidence Act.