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Exclusion from NRC has no implication on rights of an individual: MEA

“The process is being monitored by the Supreme Court directly and the government is acting in accordance with the directives issued by the court. The apex court of the land has itself set the deadlines for all steps that have been taken so far,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.

Exclusion from NRC has no implication on rights of an individual: MEA

People wait outside an NRC Seva Kendra (NSK) to check their names in the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam's Nagaon on Aug 31, 2019. Some 19,06,657 people have been excluded from the final list which names 3,11,21,004 people as Indian citizens. The citizens' registry was released online around 10 a.m., ending six years of speculation over the exercise that identifies illegal foreigners living in the Assam. (Photo: IANS)

Dismissing as ‘incorrect’ commentaries in sections of the foreign media on certain aspects of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the government on Sunday clarified that exclusion from the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual. It also asserted that the updating of NRC was not an executive-driven exercise as was being made out but a statutory, transparent, legal process mandated by the Supreme Court of India.

“The process is being monitored by the Supreme Court directly and the government is acting in accordance with the directives issued by the court. The apex court of the land has itself set the deadlines for all steps that have been taken so far,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.

He categorically affirmed that any decision taken during the process of implementation of the NRC would be within the four corners of the Indian law and consistent with India’s democratic traditions. “India, as the world’s largest democracy, has firmly enshrined ‘equal rights for all’ and ‘respect for the rule of law’ in its Constitution. An independent judiciary and fully autonomous state institutions, working for the defence of human rights, are an integral part of our political fabric and traditions,” he added.

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“For those who are not in the final list will not be detained and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they have exhausted all the remedies available under the law.” he added. Anyone excluded from the list at this stage has a right to file an appeal within 120 days of receiving a notification of exclusion to the designated tribunal.

All appeals and excluded cases would be examined by this tribunal, i.e. a judicial process. This judicial process would commence only after the appellate period was over. Thereafter, anyone still aggrieved by any decision of being excluded would have the right to approach the High Court of Assam and then the Supreme Court, he said.

The spokesperson said the NRC was a fair process based on scientific methods. Inclusion in the NRC was a unique process as it was based on “application” rather than “house to house enumeration”.

“It means that any person in Assam could have sought to be included in the list on the basis of having documentation to prove lineage from an entitled person, i.e. a person who was a resident of Assam as on March 24, 1971,” he explained.

The spokesman claimed that it was a non-discriminatory process that left no room for bias and injustice.

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