These NGOs and so-called lawyers are out to dupe poor and uneducated people.
New Delhi: With the completion of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), for the 19 lakh people excluded in Assam, the battle to contest their exclusion in Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) has begun. Though the Assam government has announced that it will make necessary arrangements to provide legal aid to these people through the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), several non-government organisations and legal help groups have volunteered to help.
Recently, alumni of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in Kolkata, the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad, National Law University (NLU), Delhi, NLU Odisha and National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam (NLUJAA) have jointly launched a legal aid-style clinic called Parichay, to help those who got excluded from the NRC list. Parichay would help the lawyers to draft appeals, research questions of law, train lawyers and para-legal personnel and assist in preparing information surrounding the NRC appeals process before FTs.
However, many worry that people who got excluded may end up getting cheated by lawyers as most of these people are poor and uneducated.
Expressing his concern over these legal aid groups, Nillay Dutta, a senior advocate and chairman of Gauhati High Court Bar Association, told The Sunday Guardian that some lawyers will pretend to have passed out of NLU and will take advantage of the situation to dupe these poor people. He also shared his experience of meeting people at the detention centre who informed him about how they were cheated by lawyers. “Most of these people are poor. They arrange money by selling their lands and other belongings. We are worried about these lawyers. Now, these lawyers will get recognition and consequently increase their fees,” he said.
He also alleged that for some activists, the NRC has become a good way to earn money. He expressed his concern over NGOs who are seeking donations in the name of legal aid.
One such NGO is Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) of civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad. Setalvad and her organisation CJP had been accused by survivors of Gulbarg society riot attack in Gujarat of using her NGO to collect donations in the name of survivors and then misappropriating the same.
When this newspaper contacted Setalvad for her response, she said, “I will not be able to answer till next week.”
A lawyer of Gauhati High Court, who did not wish to reveal his name, said: “If someone is collecting donations in the name of providing legal assistance to people left out of NRC, this is not fair. This is a question of citizenship. If one loses citizenship, he has nothing else to lose. The NRC may be a new phenomenon to the rest of India, but not a new thing in Assam. For the first time, the NRC was prepared in 1951. One who has no knowledge of its history and the whole process, I don’t think he/she can help anyone legally in post NRC procedures in FTs.”
He also said: “While several activists have come here to get some international recognition, there are some good lawyers who are working hard on the ground and no one knows them, including the media.”
Mustafa Khaddam Hussain, legal advisor of the All Assam Muslim Students’ Union (AAMSU), is an activist who has been helping people legally in NRC-related works since 2012. Hussain told The Sunday Guardian: “We have recently launched a mobile application—NRC eHandbook—to aid lawyers and para-legal personnel who will be filing appeals for the NRC-excluded in FTs. The application is divided into different sections: SOPs and Modalities, Official Advertisements, Acts and Rules, Gauhati High Court and Supreme Court Judgements, Communication and Letters, Relevant Documents, Upcoming Updates and Feedback. We have compiled all these documents, which otherwise would have resulted in 5-6 volumes of books.”
“The minority population of Assam has huge faith in the AAMSU. We will take precautionary measures so that negligence does not occur because their appeal is the last opportunity of these people. If in this process someone gets misguided or a slight mistake happens, then they will be declared as foreigners. So, people should be careful while filling their appeal before FTs,” Hussain added.
Nekibur Zaman, senior advocate of Gauhati High Court, told The Sunday Guardian: “There are many people who are trying to manipulate these people who have got excluded from the NRC. While some are trying to give it a communal colour, some are trying to exploit them. Many people have been declared foreigners or sent to detention camps because of the fault of some inefficient lawyers. These lawyers failed to represent their litigants properly. Now, in the name of giving legal assistance, if these lawyers take money and fail to represent the case properly, it is a crisis for common people. That’s why our appeal is that only those lawyers who have expertise in such cases should get involved in this legal process.”