Retired teacher ends life apparently over exclusion of name from NRC in Assam
Mangaldoi (Assam), Oct 22 : A retired school teacher has allegedly committed suicide here apparently as his name did not appear in the updated draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, a senior police official said Monday.
This was the third such incident since the publication of the complete draft of the NRC on July 30.
Mangaldoi district is about 100 km from state capital Guwahati.
Nirod Kumar Das, who used to practise as a lawyer after retirement, was found hanging by the neck in his room by family members after he had returned from his morning walk Sunday, Superintendent of Police Sreejith T said.
In a note allegedly left behind, 74-year-old Das stated that he was taking the extreme step to "escape the humiliation of being marked as a foreigner after the NRC process," the family members said.
A local police official confirmed the cause of the death as hanging.
All his family members, including his wife, three daughters, their husbands and children, as well as most of his relatives were enlisted in the NRC, they said.
Das was under distress since the exclusion of his name from the complete draft of the NRC, and more so, when the local NRC processing centre gave him a document, about two months back, stating that his name was put on hold as he had been marked as a foreigner, his family members said.
In his note, Das blamed nobody and listed five people whom he owed Rs 1,200 and asked his family members to return the money, the family and police said.
The agitated family members and locals had refused to let police take Das' body for postmortem Sunday, demanding that action be taken against the NRC processing centre for marking him a "foreigner".
They relented only after the district deputy commissioner and the superintendent of police went to the lawyer's house and assured them of a probe to find out why Das' name was excluded and how he was marked as a "foreigner".
After retiring at the end of his 34-year career as a teacher in a government school, Das had studied law and was practising in the district court at Mangaldoi near Kharupetia, his family members said.
Meanwhile, the Bengali Students Federation has called a day-long Kharupetia bandh Monday to protest against the exclusion of Das' name from the complete draft of the NRC.
Markets, shops, educational institutions, private offices and banks remained closed, while vehicles were off the roads during the bandh, officials said.
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TN Assembly elections: Eight-month pregnant homemaker wins Thiru Vi Ka Nagar seat for TVK
Chennai (PTI): Before giving birth, she had already delivered a mandate—a symbol of hope for Thiru Vi Ka Nagar.
Echoing Delhi’s 2013 “common citizen” political churn associated with the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), an eight-month-pregnant homemaker, M R Pallavi, has been elected as an MLA from Chennai’s Thiru Vi Ka Nagar constituency, emerging as one of the notable first-time faces of the Vijay-led TVK in the recently held Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
In the narrow lanes of Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, a steady stream of media personnel has been making their way to Pallavi’s residence—a scene reminiscent of the result day in Delhi when journalists thronged the modest home of Rakhi Birla, who had won from Mangolpuri on an AAP ticket.
Pallavi, 36, a homemaker educated up to class XII, defeated the DMK candidate K S Ravichandran by a margin of 22,333 votes in the reserved Thiru Vi Ka Nagar Assembly constituency.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerged as the single largest party by winning 108 seats, while DMK and AIADMK got 59 and 47, respectively.
Pallavi’s victory has drawn attention due to her personal circumstances. She campaigned extensively while eight months pregnant, going door-to-door to reach voters.
According to local accounts, she even fainted once during the campaign but continued her outreach.
She has not spoken to the media following her victory, as doctors have advised her to rest. Her husband, Rajesh, briefly recounted her campaign efforts.
A self-professed admirer of actor-turned-politician Vijay, Pallavi joined TVK soon after its formation and is now among its first-time legislators.
Doctors have advised her to be hospitalised around May 20, as she is expecting her second child. Ahead of that, voters in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar have entrusted her with representing them in the state Assembly.
Political observers say the rise of candidates like Pallavi signals a possible shift in Tamil Nadu’s political landscape, with voters backing a new party and candidates from non-traditional backgrounds.
