No document needed for NPR, no one will be declared doubtful: Home Minister Amit Shah

New Delhi: In a major development, Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday (March 12, 2020) said that no documents will be required for the National Population Register (NPR) and no one will be declared "D" (doubtful). "No document needs to be submitted. You can give whatever information you have and leave the other questions blank," the Home Minister said this while replying to a debate on the recent Delhi riots in Rajya Sabha.

When the Congress leaders questioned whether "D" would be removed, the Home Minister replied, "No one needs to fear about the NPR. No one will be marked doubtful in the updating process."

Shah also asked the Leader of Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, to visit him along with other opposition leaders to clarify doubts on NPR.

However, the Congress-led Opposition was sceptical about the Shah’s clarification. "It is not correct of the Home minister saying they will not be asking for these documents, what is the use of this exercise then," questioned the party's Kapil Sibal.

Several states, ruled by the opposition Congress, Left-ruled Kerala, Trinamool-ruled Bengal and even Bihar, ruled by BJP ally Nitish Kumar, have refused to carry out the NPR exercise, which has seen by many to be a precursor to the controversial National Register for Citizens (NRC), which has provoked protests nationwide along with the citizenship law CAA.

Those objecting to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC and NPR believe that a combination of the three will be used to leave thousands of Muslims stateless. 

The CAA provides for Indian citizenship for non-Muslims who fled neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh due to religious persecution and entered India before 2015.

Replying to the debate on Delhi riots, Amit Shah asserted that those responsible for the recent riots in Delhi will be brought to book irrespective of their caste, religion and political affiliations.

Replying to a short duration debate in Rajya Sabha on the riots, he said over 700 FIRs have been registered and more than 2,600 people arrested based on evidence.

Those who are responsible for the violence and those who conspired to trigger the riots will be punished irrespective of their caste, religious and political affiliations, he added.

He also said that the government was not running away from a debate on this issue but wanted a peaceful Holi. Giving details, Shah said that a detailed scrutiny of videos of the riots is being done and driving licence, voter ID data are being used in facial identification software.

He said that no Supreme Court guideline on privacy has been violated and no Aadhaar data has been used. He added that 1922 faces have been identified using facial identification software.

He informed that 50 serious cases of murder, attacks on religious places, hospitals, and educational institutions being handed over to three SITs.