NHRC issues notice to Assam government

‘Poor harassed over nationality checks’

Guwahati/Assam/15/03/2016-Voter’s identity cards are being issued to the villagers in Bokakhat district of Assam state on Tuesday, 15 March 2016. A total of 1.98 crore voters will elect legislators for the 126 seats contested in 25,000 polling stations in Assam. In Assam polls will be held in two phases on April 4th and 11th 2016 respectively. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar caption

Terming it a violation of the right to equality and dignity, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Wednesday that the nationality checks being conducted in Assam were leading to “harassment of poor people”.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC issued a notice to the Assam Chief Secretary over the alleged harassment by the police in the garb of verification of nationality.

The Assam government had set up a Foreigners’ Tribunal to look into cases where a resident’s nationality was in question, keeping in mind the illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

While the NHRC observed that it would not intervene in the steps taken by the government to verify the nationality of residents, the harassment and humiliation meted out during the checking was a violation of rights.

One case cited by the NHRC was of Moinal Molla, whose citizenship was questioned by the government, though his parents, wife, children, brother and other family members were Indians. He ended up spending more than two years at a detention centre set up by the government before the Supreme Court intervened and justice was done.

As per reports, over 89,000 people are living in Assam as illegal immigrants.