Assam Lok Sabha member Gaurav Gogoi has sought an update from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the death of five people during the violent anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in the State.
In a letter to NHRC chairperson H.L. Dutta on September 9, Mr. Gogoi said he wanted to know about the steps taken by the rights body to “find out the truth behind the killing of five young, unarmed protesters in the police firing during the spontaneous street protest against the CAA” across the State in December 2019.
The five who died were schoolboy Sam Stafford, Dipanjal Das, Abdul Alim, Ishwar Nayak and Dwijendra Panging.
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‘Violation of accord’
The State people did not accept the CAA because it violated the Assam Accord and made the National Register of Citizens (NRC) toothless, said the Congress MPfrom Kaliabar.
“Further, the Act is unconstitutional as it violates the basic structure of the Indian Constitution and is against Articles 14 and 21,” said Mr. Gogoi, also a member of the Standing Committee on Finance.
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The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims, who allegedly fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan till December 31, 2014.
Various groups representing indigenous communities in Assam say the Act makes a mockery of the Assam Accord of 1985 that set the midnight of March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting, detaining and deporting “illegal migrants”. The NRC was updated in Assam on the basis of this date.