People's Tribunal on Citizenship in Assam-Justices Kurian Joseph, Madan Lokur And AP Shah To Attend

Various human rights organisations and campaigns have come together to organise a 'People's Tribunal' on 'Contested Citizenship in Assam: Constitutional Processes and Human Cost'.

Date: 7^th - 8^th September, 2019

Time: 9.30 am – 6.30 pm

Venue: The Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi

The jury of the people's tribunal comprises of eminent members and scholars from the legal fraternity such as Justice (Rt.) Madan Lokur, Justice (Rt.) Kurien Joseph, Justice (Rt.) AP Shah, Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Ms. Syeeda Hamid, Ambassador Deb Mukherjee, Ms. Githa Hariharan, Prof. Monirul Hussain.

The purpose of the public hearing is to help better educate the public on what is being called as the largest citizenship purges in history, and to contribute to civil society efforts to find pathways to challenging this significant attack on India's inclusive underpinnings.

A background note giving a brief overview of the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and its related processes, providing background material for the people's tribunal, has also been provided. The note provides a brief glance at

• How the NRC originally came to be prepared
• Undefined timelines to resolve the issue and the possibility of several appeals never reaching the Foreign Tribunals (FTs)
• Discrimination and arbitrariness resulting in the procedural and capacity failures of the NRC State Coordinator's Office
• Targeted exclusion especially of people of Bengali origin
• The lack of exact estimate of migrants and the SC bench hearing the case being led by an ethnic Assamese CJI leading to doubts over 'due process' being followed and,
• The unheeded warnings sent by international organisations on how the hostility meted out to Muslims and people of Bengali descent may create an atmosphere that hampers the verification process and excludes genuine Indian Citizens

The event is being organised by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, Aman Biradari, Common Cause, National Dalit Movement for Justice, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, National Alliance of People's Movements, Satark Nagrik Sangathan, Citizens for Peace and Justice (Delhi Forum), Swaraj Abhiyaan, Citizens Against Hate and Human Rights Law Network.

Those wishing to attend the event may confirm their presence by mailing to peoplestribunalassam19@gmail.com

TO DOWNLOAD THE NOTE, CLICK HERE.