'Foreigners included in the updated NRC'

Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO, which had moved the Supreme Court in 2009 seeking detection of foreigners living in Assam, on Thursday lodged an FIR alleging that the declared foreigners were included in the updated NRC.

In an FIR lodged at Geetanagar police station here, APW named three applicants, who were included in the updated NRC despite being declared foreigners by a tribunal in 2016.

The NGO said that Jubeda Begum, Jahur Ali and Sahida Begum of Mikirbheta in central Assam's Morigaon district were declared foreigners on June 13, 2016, for entering Assam after March 24, 1971— the cut-off date fixed to detect foreigners in the state.

But they managed to get their names included in the updated NRC released on August 31, it said.

"As per our knowledge, the NRC authorities are bound to exclude them from the NRC. So we want an inquiry into how they managed to enter their names in the NRC list and the role of NRC officials in such inclusion. There should be an inquiry if there was any monetary transaction and the fraudulent means adopted by the foreigners. There must also be a probe to unearth if there is any long term agenda behind the inclusion of foreigners, which may be a threat to the internal security and sovereignty of India," said the FIR lodged by Dhrubajyoti Talukdar of APW.

The final list of updated NRC released on August 31 left out 19,06,657 people out of the total 3.30 crore applicants.

The APW, however, refused to accept the NRC list alleging that a large number of foreigners managed to make it to the list. The NGO will move the Supreme Court again seeking re-verification of the exercise.

Acting on a writ petition filed by APW in 2009, the Supreme Court in 2013 had ordered both the Centre and the Assam government to resume the work to update the NRC.

The BJP-led Assam government also alleged that a large number of foreigners were included with manipulated documents while genuine citizens were excluded from the final list despite having pre-1971 documents.

Tribunals for excluded:

Meanwhile, Assam government on Thursday said that it was waiting for district-wise numbers of excluded persons to set up more foreigner tribunals.

"We are fully prepared to set up the tribunals. But we can decide the number of tribunals in each district after we get the district-wise details. But we have not been provided with the details yet," legal adviser to the state government, Shantanu Bharali, told local news channels.

The government has decided to set up 200 foreigner tribunals immediately, in addition to 100 already operating in the state.

The excluded persons can appeal in the tribunals within 120-days challenging their exclusion from the final NRC.