NRC: Assam Woman Tagged as "Suspected Foreigner" over Name Mix-Up

Bongaigaon, March 1, 2020:

Nabami Arjya, an Assam woman living in the state's Jaraguri village in Bongaigaon district received the shock of her life when she received a notice undersigned stating that she was "suspected of being an illegal immigrant", several months after the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Nabami, who has been a regular voter in elections according to her family, was asked to appear in front of the Bongaigaon Foreigners' Tribunal based on a case that was filed in 2009. Moreover, the name of Nabami's father was written incorrectly.

Giren Chandra Arjya, her brother who lives 5 kilometres away, says told Inside Northeast, "Her father's real name is Subal Chandra Arjya. In the notice it was wrongly written as Bhanuram Arjya. This is a great mix-up."

Nabami's husband, Lakhan, informed us that they have been summoned for a hearing next month with "valid" documents. "We received a notice that says her father's name is Bhanu; whereas his real name is Subal Chandra Arjya. That seems to be the problem. On 27th, we went to the FT to see the authorities, and they have asked us to visit them again on March 26."

Lakhan further fumes why a notice case that was registered way way back in 2009, was sent only recently. "The Border Police handed us the notice last month. My question is if the case was registered in 2009, why were they napping all these years? Now, again we will have to visit the Tribunal and prove Nabami's citizenship all over again", he fumed.

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The final list of the NRC was published on August 31 and left over 19 lakh people "stateless."

Meanwhile, the Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) six years ago, has claimed that 80 lakh foreigners, including several ‘jihadis’ have been marked “legal” in the citizenship exercise. The NGO has demanded 100% reverification of the exercise.

Aabhijeet Sharma’s demand of investigating the NRC matter at the highest levels has brought back Assam’s citizenship exercise to filter the illegal Bangladeshi residents in the state back under the scanner.

Meanwhile, after a notification sent by the new NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma, the authorities are running a "filter" before the list is sent for formal notification by the Registrar General of India.

The categories of people that will be checked are doubtful voters (DV), declared foreigner (DF), those with cases pending in foreigners' tribunal (PFT) and descendants of DV, DF and PFT.

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