NRC has spawned humanitarian crisis: People's tribunal

Judiciary's insistence on setting deadlines for the NRC process in Assam has increased pressure on the people involved, a "people's tribunal" has said, criticising the implementation of the massive exercise as having "spawned a humanitarian crisis".

The tribunal, including former Supreme Court Judges M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A P Shah, said it worries "because there are no signs of this crisis abating".

The citizen's jury held discussions on the issue on September 7-8, a week after the final list of the National Register of Citizens was released in Assam. The final list of the citizens' register, after an exercise monitored by the Supreme Court, excluding over 19 lakh people.

More than 3.30 crore people had applied to be included in the NRC.

During its discussion over two days, the tribunal focussed on four questions:
Has the NRC process been in conformity with the Constitution? What has been the role of the judiciary in upholding constitutional processes and morality? What was the humanitarian crisis and the implications of extending NRC to the rest of the country?