Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has declared the entire state of Assam as “disturbed area” for a period of six months. According to news agency ANI, Defence PRO Wind Commander Ratnakar Singh said that the same has been done as per the provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.
“As per powers conferred under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, the Governor of Assam has declared the entire State of Assam as “Disturbed Area” up to 6 months beyond 28th August 2018, unless withdrawn earlier”, ANI quoted Defence PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh as saying.
This comes amid the controversy over Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Supreme Court had earlier this month asked Assam NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela to submit a detailed report on the district wise percentage of the population not included in the draft of the NRC list.
Soon after the state government released the Assam NRC draft, the Supreme Court had said that the authorities must not take any action against those not included in the list. The top court had also directed the central government to formulate standard operating procedure for further action on the issue.
Hajela had also said that those not in the list would not be deported or jailed. He had said, “The government has cleared its stand and it is that people whose names are not present in NRC will neither be jailed nor will they be deported.”
“Even after the final NRC is out people will still have the right to appeal in the Foreigners Tribunal if they are not satisfied with the result of the NRC process,” he had further said.
