Guwahati, July 23: Assam coordinator of National Register of Citizens, Prateek Hajela, has termed media reports of inclusion of a Rohingya migrant in the draft NRC as 'false' and 'baseless'. Reports on inclusion of a Rohingya migrant in the draft NRC were published in some dailies on Sunday and Monday. In a press communique on Monday, Hajela said, "The media reports have referred to one person named Alam Hussain Mazumdar who was arrested in Cachar recently on various charges and has been mentioned as an illegal Rohingya migrant." NRC Assam: Supreme Court Extends Deadline to Finalise National Register of Citizens to August 31.

"In this connection, it is clarified that this news is absolutely false as the said Alam Hussain Mazumdar was not included in draft NRC on account of being found ineligible in family tree verification and for submitting a forged birth certificate," he said.

This clarification is being issued as irresponsible false reporting has the potential of casting aspersions on the purity of the NRC, Hajela said. He said the media reports appeared to have been published without verification from the NRC authorities. Assam NRC: Supreme Court Extends Deadline to August 31, Rejects Pleas for 20 Percent Sample Re-Verification.

Alleging wrongful inclusions and exclusions in the NRC, the Centre and the Assam government had on July 19 sought from the Supreme Court extension of the July 31 deadline for publication of the final draft. A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman took note of the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the state government, that they be allowed to undertake verification of 20 per cent random samples of citizens due to wrongful inclusions or exclusions in the NRC. The court fixed the applications of both the governments for deliberation on July 23 on the issue of proposed sample survey.