SC seeks views of stakeholders on Assam NRC procedure
New Delhi, Aug 16 : The process for receiving claims and objections from the public, including 40 lakh ineligible people who were not included in the complete draft NRC, would begin from Aug 30, as the Supreme Court on Thursday sought views of AASU, AAMSU and Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prepared by the the Centre.
Seeking the views of the stakeholders on the SOP, the court also sought in a sealed cover the percentage of the people, district wise, who were not eligible to be included in draft NRC published on July 30.
The Centre had on August 14 submitted to the court the detailed SOP for the disposal of claims and objections in the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
The top court had on July 31 permitted the Centre to prepare the details of the modalities to deal with the claims and objections following publication of the draft final NRC.
Besides All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) and Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind, the bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman also asked the petitioners, Assam Public Works and Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, to submit their views on the SoP.
All of them were directed to submit their views by Aug 25.
The court said that SOP would be finalized on Aug 28, the next date of hearing.
While seeking the views of AASU, AAMSU, Jamiat-Ulama-E-Hind, and the three petitioners, the court ruled out involving the political parties in the exercise.
Asw the bench asked who are the stakeholders for ascertaining views on the SOP, state coordinator Prateek Hajela for preparing NRC said in the past political partiers were involved in the consultation process.
The court also asked Prateek Hajela to give in a sealed cover the district-wise percentage of the people who have not been included in the draft NRC.
The complete draft NRC that was published on July 30 had the names of 2.89,83,677 and left a total of 40,70,707 on grounds of being ineligibles for inclusion. Of the 40,70,707 names, 37,59,630 names were rejected and 2,48,077 names were kept on hold.
The SOP says that during the course of the hearing of claims and objections, which according to existing schedule would commence from December 15, the Assam government along with the Unique Identification Authority of India will undertake the process of biometric enrolment of all the NRC applicants.
The biometric enrolment of persons who would be making claims for inclusion and those who are objected to will be distinctive. Separate IDs will be generated for those individuals.
The SoP prepared by the Centre says that while a claim for inclusion can only be made by the person concerned, the objection to inclusion of a name in the draft NRC could be made by any person.
Also there is no restriction on filing any number of objections to the names for inclusion in the draft NRC.
The SOP further says that there would be "no penalty for rejection of an application made in respect of objection for inclusion of a name in the draft NRC."
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SGPC writes to Mann, seeks ban on 'Emergency' in Punjab a day before release
Amritsar, Jan 16 (PTI): The SGPC on Thursday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Kangana Ranaut's movie 'Emergency' saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.
Actor and BJP MP Ranaut's 'Emergency' is slated to release in cinemas on January 17.
In the letter to Mann, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami expressed strong objection to Ranaut's film.
Dhami said that if the film is released in Punjab, it will spark "outrage and anger" in the Sikh community and therefore it is the responsibility of the government to ban its release in the state.
The SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, had earlier also protested the film.
"It has come to our attention that the movie 'Emergency' produced by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut is going to be released on 17th January 2025 in cinemas in different cities of Punjab and the tickets have also started to be booked," its letter to Mann read.
Dhami said the SGPC had also protested the release of the movie in a letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary on November 14 last year.
"But it is sad that the Punjab government has not taken any step till now. If this film is released on January 17, 2025, then it is natural to create outrage and anger in the Sikh world," the current letter read.
Dhami said the SGPC will submit a letter also to all the deputy commissioners in Punjab, seeking a ban on the film in the state.
The SGPC denounced the "character assassination" of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani militant killed in 1984 in a military operation.
"If this film is released in Punjab, we will be forced to strongly oppose it at the state level," Dhami said.
In August last year, the SGPC sent a legal notice to the producers of the 'Emergency' film, alleging that it "misrepresented" the character and history of Sikhs, and asked them to remove the objectionable scenes depicting "anti-Sikh" sentiments.
In the notice, the producers of the film, including Kangana Ranaut, were asked to remove the trailer released on August 14 from all public and social media platforms and tender a written apology to the Sikh community.
The SGPC objected to film writing separate letters to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification.
