Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 11 September 2019 to Question 169229 on India: Politics and Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the implementation of the National Register of Citizens in the Indian state of Assam on (a) the level of risk of mass deprivation of liberty, (b) the level of risk of mass statelessness, (c) rights of active and passive suffrage, (d) freedoms of speech and assembly, in particular of local religious and political leaders, (e) religious freedoms, and (f) incidents of suicide.
Answered on
7 October 2019
We have not received reports of any new cases of people detained, arrested, or sent to detention camps, nor that anyone has been deprived of citizenship due to the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. The State Government has announced there will be no immediate detention for those left off the NRC. Those excluded can appeal to Foreigners Tribunals run by the State Government under the direction of the Union Home Ministry. Our High Commission in New Delhi and Deputy High Commission in Kolkata continue to monitor the situation.