The Assam government has decided to stop marking members of the
Gorkha community as suspected foreigners and referring them to
foreigners tribunals, a top state official familiar with the development
said. The state government will also move the high court for relief to
members of the community whose cases are pending with the tribunals,
said the official who did not wish to be named.
The move comes
after a federal ministry of home affairs circular to the Assam
government that members of the community who are citizens of India or
who have Nepalese documents cannot be marked as suspected foreigners and
referred to foreigners tribunals to prove their citizenship.
“The
electoral registration officers (ERO), in case they are not satisfied
with the documents of a member of the Gorkha community, will not include
that name in the electoral rolls. They will be directed to not refer it
further as a suspected foreigner,” the government official said on
Monday.
The official explained that there are two ways in which a
name is marked as a suspected foreigner or a Doubtful Voter (D Voter)and
referred to one of the 100 foreigners tribunal in the state where the
suspect has to prove his citizenship.
“One way is if the ERO thinks someone’s documents are suspect, it
refers it to the superintendent of police, Border Organisation, who in
turn refers it to the FT (foreigners tribunal). Or the Border
Organisation itself finds suspects in its survey and refers them,” the
official said.
In case of the Gorkhas, this official explained,
the names were being marked as suspected foreigners or Doubtful Voters
(D voters) through the EROs.
“As for those whose cases are already
pending with the tribunals, the state government will make an
assessment and move the high court citing the home ministry circular. We
will seek relief that those names be referred back to the EROs who can
then decide to include or exclude them from the rolls,” the official
said, adding this could ensure they don’t face the harassment of going
through tribunals.
Asked how the government will identify Gorkhas, the official said,
“From their names and by taking the help of the Gorkha organizations.”
In
July, the All AssamGorkhaStudents Union (AAGSU) had submitted a
memorandum to home minister Rajnath Singh. According to Prem Tamang, the
president of AAGSU, the memorandum demanded relief for the community as
they were being marked as D Voters and facing harassment at the
tribunals.
The home ministry then wrote a letter to the state
government on 24 September. The ministry of home affairs on 10 October
issued a statement quoting from the letter: “The letter dated
24thSeptember, 2018, stated that the members of theGorkhacommunity who
were Indian citizens at the time of commencement of the Constitution, or
those who are Indian citizens by birth, or those who have acquired
Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization in accordance with
the provisions of The Citizenship Act, 1955, are not “foreigners” in
terms of section 2 (a) of The Foreigners Act,1946 as well as The
Registration of Foreigners Act,1939, therefore, such cases will not be
referred to the Foreigners Tribunals.”
Marking people as suspects by the Border Organisation of the Assam
Police or the EROs and referring their cases to foreigners tribunals is a
parallel citizenship determination exercise which has been going on
beside the ongoing exercise of updating of the National Register of
Citizens.
According to the NRC rules and orders of the Supreme
Court, D Voters and those whose cases are pending with foreigners
tribunals cannot be included in the NRC till their cases are resolved.
Meanwhile,
those whose names will be out of the final NRC list, too, will have to
go to the foreigners tribunals for determination of citizenship.
“There
are more than 20,000 Gorkhas who were wrongfully marked as D voters
despite having all documents,” said Tamang, adding that 150,000 Gorkhas
are out of the NRC draft because of various reasons, including the fact
that many have been wrongly marked as D voters.
“We demand that
all those who have documents prior to 1971 their names should be removed
from the list of D Voters and they should not face harassment at the
foreigners tribunals,” Tamang said, adding the matter has been discussed
at the highest level including in tripartite meetings which also
included central and Assam government officials. “NRC and foreigners
tribunals are to keep out Bangladeshis,” Tamang said, adding “if the
government has decided that Gorkhas cannot be marked as D Voters that
would eventually solve the problem of 1.5 lakh who are out of the NRC
draft, too.”
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