The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from Assam government over the alleged harassment of people owing to the state government’s special drive to find illegal immigrants and drive them out.
The NHRC has issued a notice to chief secretary of Assam, taking suo motu cognizance in the wake of media reports on the alleged harassment faced by people in the name of “verification of their nationality” in the state.
In October, THE WEEK was the first to report in detail about the harassment faced by people from Assam Police, forcing several lakhs to abscond after they were branded by the government as Bangladeshis.
THE WEEK report brought out the pathetic situation in the state where Bengali speaking Muslims were targetted by the BJP government because of their cultural similarities to people of Bangladesh.
The commission, however, stated that steps taken to identify illegal immigration and the setting up of Foreigners' Tribunal is a policy perspective of the government and clarified that it would not like to intervene in the matter.
“But the allegation that in the name of verification, poor people are being subject to harassment and humiliation is a mater of concern for the commission as it amounts to violation of the rights to equality and dignity of the innocent victims,” the report said.
An official of the NHRC told THE WEEK, “We have scrutinised all the media reports since last month and carefully considered all options before writing to state government. If the media reports are true, then it would be gross violation of human rights.”
Assam government refused to make any comments at this juncture.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK in October, Sonowal said, “Disputed people would have to prove their identities based on our scientific methods of determination of illegal immigrants. If they can prove themselves as citizens of these countries under this fare system it would be all right. Otherwise they would have to go back to their countries.”
The NHRC quoted figure, as reported in THE WEEK, and said, “There are 89, 395 people estimated as illegal immigrants in Assam till August 2017 and currently there are more than 2,000 people languishing in the detention centers across the state who are allegedly being subject to discrimination.”
The report has caused embarrassment to the state government as it is going to bring out the first list of legal residents of the state in the name of National Registrar of Citizens in December this year.
