Assam NRC Case: Supreme Court Slams State Govt For Allowing Bangladeshis to Merge With Locals
The Supreme Court criticised the Assam government, making it responsible for lakhs of foreigners – particularly Bangladeshi nationals – merging with the local population.
New Delhi, April 1: The Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Assam government, making it responsible for lakhs of foreigners – particularly Bangladeshi nationals – merging with the local population. Slamming the Chief Secretary for the state government’s failure to recognise those people and letting them mix with the original inhabitants, the apex court directed the Chief Secretary of Assam to be present before it and adjourned the hearing till next Monday.
Hearing a PIL seeking a direction from the court for humane treatment of immigrants held in detention centres in Assam, the Supreme Court sought details from the state government and questioned whether the state government is ‘playing around with this Court?’ While directing the Chief Secretary to be present in Delhi till court allows him to return to Assam, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said, “Your affidavits are an exercise in futility, your State is playing around with this Court”. Modi Government Will Bring NRC to West Bengal, Says BJP President Amit Shah.
During the hearing, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed that the around 70,000 migrants who were declared foreigners have merged with the local crowd in the state. Even Mehta failed to satisfy the apex court over what steps it has taken to detect such migrants living as locals now.
Miffed with the reply, CJI was about to issue a non-bailable warrant against the chief secretary. But SG Mehta requested not to take a coercive step against the Chief Secretary. Keeping the seriousness of the case in concern, the bench set the next date of hearing of NRC case on April 8.
The Assam NRC case relates with the disappearance of over four million of the 32.9 million in Assam in the draft released on July 30 last year. Both the Union and the Assam government insisted that register is still a draft and that there is adequate recourse available to those not included.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 01, 2019 01:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).