Retired Indian Army officer fails to make it to final NRC list, children excluded, wife included

Guwahati, Aug 31: A retired Indian Army junior commissioned officer, Mohammad Sanaullah has been declared a foreigner. It may be recalled that the retired officer had hit the headlines last year after he was declared a foreigner by the foreigners tribunal and sent to detention camp. He has failed to make it to the final NRC list. While his wife remains on the final list, the names of his two daughters and son are missing from the final list.

Mohammad Sanaullah's appeal against the Foreigners Tribunal order is pending in the High Court. Due to this neither, him nor his children had any chance of getting included in the final list. The NRC provisions state that names of those who have been declared foreigners by the tribunals, theirs and their children' names cannot be included in the final list.

The final NRC was published earlier today on the official website assamnrc.nic.in. State NRC coordinator, Prateek Hajela said that it has been found it has been found that a total of 3,11,21,004 number of persons are found to be eligible for inclusion in final NRC. 19,06,657 have been left out of the final list.

Sanaullah was kept in detention camp last month as he failed to furnish evidence before a foreigners tribunal in the state to establish that he is Indian by birth. This was informed by union minister of state for Home Kishan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha.

Sanaullah failed to furnish evidence before the tribunal to establish his linkage to his parentage on Indian soil prior to March 25, 1971, and also could not submit proof to establish that he is Indian by birth, the house was informed.

"The foreigners tribunal observed that none of the documents and their content produced by Md. Sanaullah was proved by the authority concerned to establish the linkage about his citizenship.

"The foreigners tribunal found that Md. Sanaullah failed to furnish the required evidence under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, to establish his linkage to his parentage on Indian soil prior to March 25, 1971, and to submit any proof to establish the fact that he was an Indian citizen by birth," Reddy said.

The minister said a reference under the Foreigners Act about the nationality of Sanaullah, a resident of Boko in Assam's Kamrup Rural district, was made by the local police.

On receipt of the reference, a foreigners tribunal in the district issued a notice to Sanaullah and examined the documents and witnesses produced by him as per procedure.

Pursuant to the decision of the tribunal, Sanaullah was kept in a detention camp.The Gauhati High Court in its order dated June 7, 2019, has granted him interim bail, Reddy said.