Silchar, Sept 1: The Citizen Rights Protection Coordination Committee (CRPCC), Assam has demanded providing equal status and treatment to the people who have been left out of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) which was published back on August 31, 2019.
In a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India sent through the Cachar Deputy Commissioner, members of the CRPCC including co-chairman Sadhan Purkayastha, Hillol Bhattacharjee, Dr M Santi Kumar Singha said that On August 31, 2019, the final draft of the NRC was officially published in which 1.9 million genuine citizens of Assam were excluded.
"We feel, had the NRC been prepared with total impartiality, not a single citizen would have been dropped from the NRC final draft. After the publication of the final draft, the NRC authorities promised to issue rejection slips to the 1.9 million citizens citing reasons for rejection. But it is surprising that even after two years since the publication of the final draft; the rejection slips are not issued. Also, while the Honourable Supreme Court of India had declared that the citizens excluded from the final draft of the NRC would not be discriminated against in any way and their civil rights would be protected, many of such citizens are being subjected to harassment," said CRPCC members in the memorandum. They also highlighted that those kept out of the final draft of the NRC are faced with immense difficulties in Aadhar enrollment as well.
Further, the CRPCC members demanded that the complications in issuing Aadhar Cards to the NRC excluded citizens should be resolved at the earliest and as per the assurance given by the Supreme Court of India, the rights of the NRC excluded citizens should not be curtailed so far as the issuance of birth certificates, caste certificates and the likes are concerned.
