Assam Girl Finds Her Name Missing From New NRC List, Kills Self

Relatives of Noor Nahar Begum said that she hanged herself with the dupatta she had been wearing.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

A minor girl in Assam's Darrang district killed herself on Wednesday, 26 June. Her relatives and members of a students’ organisation attribute the incident to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is being updated across the state.

Relatives of fourteen-year-old Noor Nahar Begum of Roumari Chapori village said that she hanged herself with the dupatta she had been wearing.

“Her name was not included in the draft NRC published by Assam Government last year. However, she was sure that her name would appear in the final NRC. Today, when the Assam Government published an additional draft list of exclusion, Noor and her family took it to be the final NRC. Noor took the extreme step after her father went to the NRC Seva Kendra at Roumari, failed to find her name in the list and told her this over the phone,” one of the girl’s relatives said.

The family said they were not aware that the list which had been published on Wednesday, 26 June, wasn’t the final NRC but an additional draft exclusion list, and that the non-inclusion of her name enhanced the chances of it finding its way in the final NRC scheduled to be published on 31 July.

‘Govt Failed to Ensure Proper Publicity Regarding NRC Process’

All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) Leader Abdul Hai visited the deceased’s house and blamed the state government for her death.

“There is so much confusion over the NRC process and the government has failed to ensure proper publicity regarding the process, which has led to the incident,” he alleged.

Darrang Superintendent of Police Amrit Bhuyan, however, refuted the claim that the girl killed herself over the NRC and said that a police investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the death.

“So far, I have not received any report that the girl committed suicide due to NRC. However, our investigation is on,” he said.

The Assam Government on Wednesday, published an additional Draft Exclusion List, with names of the 102,462 persons whose names were included in the Draft NRC published on 30 July 2018 but were subsequently found to be ineligible due to different reasons.

(This piece has been edited for clarity.)