The Criminal Investigation Department of the Assam Police will investigate a complaint that misinformation is being spread about the ongoing National Register of Citizens process, the Hindustan Times reported on Thursday. It will also look into allegations that donations are being collected using social media to help applicants.
The complaint was filed by Right to Information activist Dulal Borah on Tuesday. He named three people who allegedly sought donations to help NRC applicants. They asked for the money to be sent to two bank accounts, State Bank of India’s Gauhati University branch and a Canara Bank account in Barpeta, Borah said in his complaint.
Borah also alleged that some “anti-national elements” were spreading fear among NRC applicants regarding the hearings. The three people named by Borah are Rehna Sultana, a PhD scholar of Gauhati University, Sofiqul Islam, another student of the same university, and Mausumi Chetia, a PhD researcher in The Hague, Netherlands. Sultana is one of the 10 poets who were booked by the Assam Police last month for a poem on citizenship problems being faced by sections of the state population.
“We have received the complaint,” Additional Director General of Police LR Bishnoi, who also heads the CID, confirmed to Hindustan Times. “Once it is processed, an officer will be assigned to investigate.” He added that they will also look into the allegation of misuse of social media in connection with the NRC process.
The stated aim of the National Register of Citizens is to separate genuine Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in the state. According to its terms, anyone who cannot prove that they or their ancestors entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971, will be declared a foreigner.
More than 40 lakh people were excluded from the final draft. Those who did not make the draft list were allowed to make one last claim for inclusion before the publication of the final consolidated list. Authorities also allowed objections to be filed against people included in the final draft. The exercise has been embroiled in several controversies, including allegations of bias against certain communities.
An “additional exclusion list” was published on June 26. It contained names of 1,02,463 people who were earlier included in the draft.
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