A retired school teacher in Assam's Mangaldoi village has allegedly committed suicide on Monday as his name did not appear in the updated draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), a senior district police official said.
Nirod Kumar Das, who used to practise as a lawyer after retirement, was found by his family members hanging in his room after he had returned from his morning walk Sunday, Superintendent of police Sreejith T. said.
In a note allegedly left behind by him, 74-year-old Das stated that he was taking the extreme step to "escape the humiliation of being marked as a foreigner after the NRC process," his family members said. A police official at the local police station confirmed his death by hanging.
All his family members, including wife, three daughters, their husbands and children as well as most of his relatives names were included in the NRC, they said.
Das was under distress since the exclusion of his name from the complete draft of the NRC, published on June 30 in the state, and more so when the local NRC processing centre gave him a document, about two months back, stating that his name had been put on hold as he had been marked a foreigner, his family members said.
Nirod Kumar Das, who used to practise as a lawyer after retirement, was found by his family members hanging in his room after he had returned from his morning walk Sunday, Superintendent of police Sreejith T. said.
In a note allegedly left behind by him, 74-year-old Das stated that he was taking the extreme step to "escape the humiliation of being marked as a foreigner after the NRC process," his family members said.A police official at the local police station confirmed his death by hanging.
All his family members, including wife, three daughters, their husbands and children as well as most of his relatives names were included in the NRC, they said.
Das was under distress since the exclusion of his name from the complete draft of the NRC, published on June 30 in the state, and more so when the local NRC processing centre gave him a document, about two months back, stating that his name had been put on hold as he had been marked a foreigner, his family members said.
In his note, Das blamed no one and listed five people whom he owed Rs 1,200 and asked his family to return the money to them, the family and police said.
The agitated family and local people had refused to allow police to take Das' body for post-mortem examination Sunday demanding that action be taken against the NRC
processing centre for marking him a 'foreigner'.
They relented only after the district deputy commissioner and superintendent of police went to the lawyer's house and assured them of a probe to find out why Das' name was excluded and how he was marked as a 'foreigner'.
After retirement at the end of his 34-year service as a teacher in a government school, Das had studied law and was practising as a lawyer in the district court at Mangaldoi near Kharupetia, his family said.
Meanwhile, the Bengali Students Federation has called a day-long Kharupetia bandh Monday to protest against the exclusion of Das' name from the NRC complete draft.
Markets, shops, educational institutions, private offices and banks remained closed, while vehicles were off the roads during the bandh, officials said.
What is National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam?
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the list of Indian citizens of Assam.
The first draft of the NRC, released on December 31 , 2017, for the Northeastern state had listed 19 million people out of the 32.9 million applicants as legal Indian citizens and left out 13.9 million applicants.
In July 2018, the name of around 40 lakh people of 3.29 crore applications were missing from the final draft of the NRC.
The NRC, unique to the state of Assam was first updated in 1951 to distinguish Indian citizens from illegal migrants from then East Pakistan (now, Bangladesh). It is being updated following a direction of the Supreme Court.
Assam is the first state in India to conduct the massive exercise of bringing out an NRC. The citizenship identification matter is extremely volatile in Assam as the state has witnessed violent anti-immigrant mobilisation since the early 1980s.
Not Included In Assam’s NRC? Here’s How You Can File Claim
There is also provision to file objection against any ineligible name that has been included in the list.
- People who don’t find their names in the final draft have the legal right to apply again by filing claim.
- Claims will be received from August 30, 2018 to September 28 ,2018.
- Claims can be submitted at the NRC ‘seva kendra’ where the claimant had submitted application.
(With inputs from agencies)
