"BJP WANTS NRC TO BE CONDUCTED ACROSS INDIA.

BY ORDERING IT BE CARRIED OUT IN

ASSAM, HAS SC OPENED A CAN OF WORMS?"

The division bench comprising the present Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and RF Nariman ordered
the compilation of NRC. BJP in its manifesto already hinted on the fact that a nationwide NRC
exercise would be conducted which was made evident by tabling the Criminal (Amendment) Bill
in the year 2016. The Bill’s objective was to relax the requirement for grant of citizenship to
non-Muslim minorities from the three muslim majority state – Bangladesh, Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The Bill was challenged on the ground that it violates the Fundamental Right of
Equality under Article 14 and discriminates on the basis of religion.

The NRC exercise which was recently concluded in Assam excluded around 1.9 million people
from the final list. That’s almost the population of the state of Nagaland. However, instead of the
Centre playing an active role in the proper completion of this exercise, the apex court of our
country played an active role. The Supreme Court should have played an active role as a neutral
arbitral to check whether the government is acting in consonance with the principles of
International Law. However, the deadlines prescribed by the court made it much more difficult
for the alleged “illegal immigrants”. The Supreme Court turned around the burden of truth and
made it the responsibility of the common man to furnish the proof of citizenship. The shift in
burden resulted in the State seeing him/her as a foreigner unless (s)he proves him/her citizenship.
The court essentially took the role of an executive and performed administrative functions which
ultimately blurred the doctrine of separation of powers.

The ground realities as far as implementation of NRC in Assam is concerned are alarming. Even
though the Supreme Court is supervised the complete NRC exercise. It does not appear that the
issue of local identity and its authentication has been addressed. Even as the fate of the 1.9
million left out of the NRC is Assam hangs in the balance, a demand by Amit Shah for a similar
exercise across nation lacks wisdom. While security concerns merit segregation of anti-social
elements, this cannot be an excuse to carry out a witch hunt on communal basis. It is important to
see how Assam NRC pans out before implementing it in other states.

The exercise in Assam raised various concerns which came into public sphere. A “people’s
tribunal” comprising various legal scholars and former Justice of Supreme Court pointed out
various flaws in the role of Supreme Court in compilation of Assam NRC. Judicial orders by the
apex court made conditions more stringent for the release of people from the detention camps
which majorly comprise of the marginalized and vulnerable section of the population. Moreover,
the setting up of deadlines, despite the magnitude of the exercise, increase the burden and
pressure on the people.

In conclusion, the first ever exercise in India, of compiling NRC in the state of Assam proved to
be disastrous at many fronts. A closer look into the history of Assam Accord and the reading of
provisions of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 suggests that a nation-wide exercise would
only result in segregation of Muslim population i.e. discrimination of the basis of religion. It
goes against the principles of constitutional morality. Therefore, such arbitrary action of the State
must be challenged in the Supreme Court. But, when the Supreme Court itself has taken the role
of executive, would the action of the Supreme Court be appealable in the same court?