Amnesty International Expresses Concern Over Functioning of Foreigners Tribunals

New Delhi, August 31, 2019:

Amnesty International, the human rights body, on Saturday expressed concern after the publication of the final draft of the National Register of Citizens in Assam.

Amnesty International India has also expressed deep concerns over the functioning of the Foreigners' Tribunals, which will decide the fate of the people whose names have excluded from the final NRC draft whether they are Indian citizens or not.

It urged the Assam Government to ensure that the Foreigners' Tribunals maintain transparency in their functioning and are in line with the fair trial standards guaranteed under national and international law.

Also Read: Assam: 80% of Boko Villagers Summoned 500 Kms Away for NRC Re-Verification Excluded from List

Reportedly, the Head of Amnesty India, Aakar Patel said that the Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies where persons claimed to be foreigners have the responsibility to prove that they are Indian citizens. These FTs will decide the Indian citizenship of millions of people. He also mentioned that in several reports, the proceedings before Foreigners Tribunals are arbitrary, while their orders are biased and discriminatory.

The human rights body further claimed that instances of the Foreigners' Tribunal declaring citizens as 'irregular foreigners' over clerical errors--such as minor differences in spellings of names or age in electoral rolls, or slight contradictions between answers given in cross-examinations and what is written in the documents--are common.

It is to be the final NRC draft is published today, in which over 19 lakh people have been left out in Assam.

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