The Union Home Ministry on Monday said that those left out of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam will not be detained, under any circumstances, till they “exhaust” all remedies available under law.
Such people can appeal to the Foreign Tribunals within 120 days, it said, stressing that they will continue to enjoy all their rights as earlier, like any other citizens.
“The affected persons will continue to enjoy rights like right to employment, education, property etc,” Home Ministry spokesperson Vasudha Gupta said in a tweet.
In another tweeet, she said: “State government has also made necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to the needy people amongst those excluded from NRC final list, by providing all assistance through the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA).”
Saying that adequate judicial process is available for affected persons to appeal to Foreigners Tribunal within 120 days from August 31 this year, the ministry said that “to facilitate appeal, 200 new FTs to be functional from today (Monday), in addition to 100 already existing”.
In the final NRC list released on Saturday, 30.1 million people were found eligible to be included, while more than 1.9 million were left out.
The ones left out are mostly Bengali Hindu refugees who had come to Assam before 1971, or people who couldn’t furnish the necessary documents.
