New Delhi: Reiterating its early observation, the Supreme Court-appointed one-man Upamanyu Hazarika Commission has reported that there is an established institutionalised mechanism that enables a Bangladeshi national to freely come into the country, acquire citizenship and voting rights here and a large scale racket of fake certificates is involved.
In his fourth supplementary report to the Supreme Court, in the case involving the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha and others and the Union Government, Hazarika said that racket “is carried out with the aid and connivance of government personnel” and no offender is brought to book.
“There is one significant fact which emerges from the fact finding undertaken since May 2015 and resulting in the four reports, including the present one, and which is that there is an established institutionalised mechanism which enables a Bangladeshi national to freely come into the country, acquire citizenship rights and more importantly voting rights, which is where their strength lies,” Hazarika said in the report.
“Fact that it is a porous border (admitted by both the governments), no verification of any person being enrolled as a voter, no verification of any person getting rights over land, rather settling as an encroacher upon government land, forest land and grazing reserves and subsequently conferred land rights with procurement of fake certification being the norm,” the report said.
As noted by the Gauhati High Court even when such fake certification is detected with great difficulty, no offender who participated in this process is brought to book. Even when such fake certification is detected with great difficulty, no offender who participated in this process is brought to book, Assam Tribune reported.
The confidence, which a Bangladeshi national has in his or her ability to establish themselves illegally in India, can be understood from the Gauhati High Court order in Sl. No. 4 of the judgements cited above, in WP(C) 5048/2009 where a foreign national, declared so and deported in 2007 to Bangladesh has the confidence to come and file a writ petition before the High Court and which writ petition is pending for six years without an affidavit being filed by the State Government. This demonstrates the confidence a Bangladeshi national has in the Indian system to protect their interest.
Regarding the necessity for independent inquiry and investigation into the manner in which foreigners illegally acquire citizenship is important, as in the on-going NRC process, Hazarika referred to the Government of Assam order. It categorically said that “the manner in which foreigners illegally acquire citizenship is a matter under the Union Government of India.”
It is, therefore, now for the Central Government to respond as to whether it has taken any decision regarding setting up of an independent inquiry and investigation into the manner in which foreigners illegally acquire citizenship.
“I have said in the earlier report that this investigation is necessary because it will provide a valuable guide towards the verification of citizenship under on-going updating of the National Register of Citizens,” Hazarika said in his report.