SILCHAR, June 24 � The Citizens� Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), Assam has strongly opposed the procedure and manner in which the National Register of Citizen�s (NRC) updation is being carried out in Assam.
In a release issued to the media, Nripendra Chandra Saha, president of the rights body pointed out that updation of NRC cannot be based on the documents which are faulty and incomplete. He added to say that with reference to the judgment of Chief Justice, PK Goswami of the Assam and Nagaland High Court in the second appeal no. 171 of 1967 reported in ILR Assam and Nagaland, 1970 it is to be highlighted that, �This document (NRC 1951) is not a public document within the meaning of Section 74 of the Indian Evidence Act�. Further, �the National Register of Citizens is a contemporaneous register prepared by the officers of the Census Act in the course of census operations. If so, Section 15 of the Census Act will make such records of Census not open to inspection for admissible in evidence�.
Expressing their displeasure and agony, the leaders of CRPC opine that being in contravention of legal injunction against it, the so called National Register of Citizens (or NRC 1951) finding a place in Election Commission�s notification for Assam and considered as the base document for updation of NRC, is really unfortunate.
Bidhayak Das Purakystha, general secretary of CRPC said that during his recent visit to Dibrugarh, he was made aware by the local citizens that the copies of NRC 1951 uploaded in the official website of government contain many anomalies. He said that, the citizens pointed out that the records of village Borobari in which the serial number of enrolled persons suddenly jumps from 259 (B) to 333 � deleting the names of 74 families directly. Again in serial number 333, the first five names are completely missing but fortunately the 6th member of the family finds a place. Image ID No. 09122088 is completely blank. Similar blank pages and irregularities of skipping serial numbers had been brought to his knowledge by the villagers of Borobari. It is really shocking that there were certain people who served the Indian Railways since the pre-independence era, even before the formation of NF Railway, but unfortunately their next generation fails to find their names in NRC 1951 and subsequent electoral rolls up to March 24, 1971, the general secretary mentioned.
Das Purkayastha questioned the concerned authorities of the Centre and State that if such discrepancies are noticed in a single village of a particular district of Assam, then how far is the NRC 1951 a reliable document on which the NRC updation work is based. Similar cases have been observed in different corners of Assam which proves that the NRC 1951 is not at all a vital document to be relied upon for updation work.
Moreover, the leaders of CRPC, Assam claim that the electoral roll of 1971 is also incomplete, faulty and elusive evidence. Even the election authorities cannot furnish a full set of the rolls themselves and the reconstruction made by them cannot be held beyond reproach, they said.
Highlighting the flaws, the CRPC leaders said that voter lists of 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1965 are not available in the official website of NRC or Seva Kendras. There are many districts where NRC 1951 is either not available or partially available. The voter lists of 1966 and 1971 found in the official website of NRC are also in a similar condition. Some other proofs like � Citizenship Certificate, Migration Certificate, Service Record, Refugee Registration Certificate, Border Slip, Border Ration Slip, etc. which are accepted for inclusion of their names in the upcoming NRC are not available with more than 60 per cent of the poor, illiterate people. Similar is also the case with the majority Indian citizens who have lost such documentary proofs due to flood, fire and other untoward incidents beyond description.
The CRPC leaders demanded that if the Government is really interested to enrol the names of Indian citizens then they should consider the circumstantial evidences of the people and follow the guidelines laid down by the Indian Evidence Act.
