Those not in Assam NRC won’t be jailed or deported, says official

This comes just days after the Supreme Court said that the authorities should not take any coercive action against those not included in Assam NRC.

Amid the ongoing controversy over National Register of Citizens (NRC), released by the Assam government last week, programme coordinator Prateek Hajela has reiterated that the government will not take any action against those who have not been included in the list.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Hajela said, “The government has cleared its stand and it is that people whose names are not present in NRC will neither be jailed nor will they be deported.”

The NRC coordinator further said that even after the final NRC will be out, people will have the option to appeal against the same. “Even after the final NRC is out people will still have the right to appeal in the Foreigners Tribunal if they are not satisfied with the result of the NRC process,” he said.

He added, “This is a long process, more than three crore people had applied, there are more than 6 crore documents and more than 75,000 issuing authorities. Law realises the fact that the result of such a long process cannot be final in the first attempt.”

This comes just days after the Supreme Court said that the authorities should not take any coercive action against those not included in the list, even as it asked the central government law down the standard operating procedure on the NRC. The court also said that the SOP must be submitted before it for approval.

Pointing that the one released by the Assam government was draft NRC, the top court said that it did not form any basis of any action by government authorities against people not named in NRC.

The apex court said that authorities would have to follow the legal process on the issue and give due opportunity to the residents whose names are left out of the NRC. The state coordinator of the NRC had told the court that 37.59 lakh names have been rejected while 2.48 lakh names have been put on hold.