https://www.institutesi.org/resources/monthly-bulletin-march-2021
When and why did you become interested in citizenship rights issues?
Illegal
immigration has been a perennial socio-political issue in Assam. It
resulted in a spectrum of policies and practices in legislations,
executive policies, judicial orders for detection and deportation of
illegal immigrants since partition in 1947. These actions enacted from
time to time are reminiscent of the colonial legal process based on the
colonial understanding of ‘alien’. The process bears reflection of
dominant racial and cultural norms together with the claims of
civilizational superiority of the ‘Assamese’. Any non-conforming
community to this criteria is regarded as ‘outsider’, an ‘Other’
[Bohiragoto in Assamese] and is subjected to persecution, censorship,
social stigma, prolonged incarceration and virtual statelessness.
In 2008, I was researching for a project on Understanding Impunity in
India, when I started documenting survivors of the Nellie massacre. This
massacre took place in Assam in 1983 and about 2000 people were killed
in Nellie within 3-4 hours. Victims are Bengali speaking muslim
population. What is more tragic is that there was no accountability
fixed for this massacre and the victims and the alleged perpetrators
lived together in the same locality after the incident. Since then I
have been following the issues related to minority rights, citizenship
rights, displacement etc.
On August 31, 2019, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) Authority
under the supervision of the Supreme Court published the final list of
Indian citizens living in Assam after a mammoth process. The list
included 31 million applicants and excluded 1.9 million, mostly
belonging to marginalized groups like religious and linguistic
minorities, tribal, women, children and sexual minorities creating an
imminent risk of statelessness if these populations fail in the final
legal battle before the judiciary. The NRC process is shifted the
‘burden of proof’ to the individual rather than on the State, a
departure from the Indian Evidence Act. The NRC process is severely
criticized as being inhumane where every citizen is a suspect until and
unless proved otherwise. However, a close scrutiny of the legal standard
setting reveals that the basic principles of due process, fairness and
rule of law were not followed strictly and it becomes a huge burden on
the accused to procure historical documentation of their legacy and to
prove their citizenship. 33 million people of Assam had to procure their
legacy document, a digitized form of pre 1971 archival document, to
fill their application, submit ‘acceptable’ current documents to prove
linkage with the ‘legacy person’, fill a water-tight ‘family tree’,
attend several round of verifications and hearings, including the
hearings for disposal of frivolous ‘objections’ and so on. Women due to
existing gender discrimination couldn’t cope with the system and hence
they could find their names in the final list. In 2020, I become
interested to document the lives of those excluded as well as those who
were detained in detention camps for their failure to prove Indian
citizenship. The documentation continued even during the COVID 19
lockdown time.
Can
you tell us a little bit about your inspiration behind this project and
why you thought it was such an important initiative to carry out?
The
fact that a large number of the population is at risk of statelessness
is very disconcerting for me. My extended family members are also facing
the same risk. During lockdown in March, 2020, I met a female former
detainee in my village and after hearing her story I was moved and
inspired to write about them. The personal narratives must be documented
and their experiences must be told in order to bring justice.
"Momiron’s detention was one of the longest detention in a detention camp in Assam. She was released on bail after ten years and six months in October 2019."
Overall,
what have you noticed to be the most pressing issues those with
citizenship issues are facing and what do you think can be done?
What
I observed is that people’s inability to prove linkage with their
parents or grandparents, and technical challenges such as typos, etc.
are major reason behind exclusion of people from the NRC list. This to
me is unfair and requires a judicious scrutiny.
Treatment
of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in South Asia remains a
critical area of concern. The region lacks individual and collective
response towards these issues unlike the European Union. According to a World Bank Report,
at present, South Asia is “one of the least integrated regions” in the
world. As a consequence, despite being the recipient of a large number
of refugees, none of the South Asian countries are party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
Populations such as Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, Srilankan Tamils,
Tibetans, Bru, Chakma, Afghan refugees in India, Rohingyas in Bangladesh
etc hardly received the desired collective attention from South Asian
countries. The South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC),
the sole regional cooperation body hardly plays any role. Issues of
forced migration and statelessness still lack a vision for sustainable
policy development to prevent its recurrence. The case of Assam is a
concrete example of it.
Regional action to standardize the jurisprudence on issues of illegal
immigration could prevent future situations like that of the Rohingyas.
Which story would you share if someone asked you what is happening in Assam and why?
The
experience of Momiron Nessa of Takakata village, Barpeta district is
very hearbreaking for me. She is approximately 40 years old and is one
of those who spent more than ten years in detention camp. Momiron Nessa
was the only daughter of her parents and grew up along with four
brothers. She is not formally educated and was married off at the age of
12. After her marriage, Momiron enrolled her name as a voter during a
door to door enrollment process. After five years since then she went to
vote in 2010 and found that she has been marked as ‘D voter’ [Doubtful
voter]. She couldn’t vote that day. Later they enquired with police. The
police informed them that three notices issued by Foreigner’s Tribunal
have been already served to them and they never attended the hearing.
Neither Momiron Nessa nor her family members ever received those
notices. While the family was exploring means to seek remedy, police
arrested Momiron and immediately detained her in the detention camp in
Kokrajhar. She was forcibly separated from her three years old son.
Momiron was reportedly pregnant and had an abortion during her
detention. Momiron’s detention was one of the longest detention in a
detention camp in Assam. She was released on bail after ten years and
six months in October 2019.
What
is next for you? Are you going to continue this documentation project
in Assam, or do you have new projects in the pipeline?
COVID 19 and lockdown measures have impacted my work and financial
resources. However documentation and desk research is on and I would
like to continue writing about the people and their personal narratives.
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This is the picture of Momiron Nessa with her 13-year old son whom she was unable to see for more than 10 years.
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Voices of Assam:
Research by Anjuman Ara Begum.
Below we present more stories collected by Anjuman Ara Begum during her research Voices from the field. On citizenship Rights in Assam,
documenting the lives of those excluded as well as those who were
detained in detention camps, because they were unable to prove their
Indian citizenship.
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Ajbahar
was attending a hearing before the Foreigner’s tribunal, when he was
arrested and told that he had been already declared a foreigner by
another tribunal. He was taken into the detention camp in Goalpara
without informing his family. Later his family filed a petition before
the Gauhati High Court that upheld the tribunal’s order. His family then
appealed before the Supreme Court with the help of an NGO. Ajbahar's
wife, depressed over her husband's situation and the financial hardship
in the family committed suicide, while Ajbahar was detained.
Ajbahar is currently released on bail after having spent 3 and
half years in a detention camp. He is struggling with mental health
issues.
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Nazrul
had to spend more than three years in a detention camp. He was declared
a foreigner for producing a ‘fake’ birth certificate. Nazrul is
illiterate and had obtained the document, using help from a local tout,
who took Nazrul's money and provided him with a non-valid birth
certificate.
Birth certificates issued 90 days after the birth is not accepted as proof by the FT.
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This is the wife of Naresh Koch,
who died in the detention camp after having lived there for two years.
While Naresh was detained, his family was allowed to see him only twice.
Both times they had to bride the police in order to be able to see him.
As of June 2020 30 inmates died in detention camps.
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Roshiya Begum was born in Meghalaya (a state in Northeast India). At
the age of 12 she was married off to a man from Assam. During her trial
before a Foreigner’s Tribunal she couldn’t prove linkage with her
parents. She was declared a foreigner and consequently spent three and
half years in a detention camp.
In 2019 she was released on bail, after having
paid 100,000 rupees (1400 USD approx) as well as having produced a
guarantee from two Indian citizens.
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You can watch Anjuman present her research and talk about the stories she's encountered in Assam at the webinar by the Right to Nationality & Citizenship Network, c0-hosted in partnership with ISI.
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