Attorney-general of India K.K. Venugopal told the Supreme Court on Monday that the children whose names were not in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be separated from their parents and sent to detention centres.

A bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Bhushan Gavai and Surya Kant was dealing with some applications, including one filed by Mumbai-based NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP). It said several children have been excluded from the NRC final list even when their parents were included and that attempts were being made to send such children to detention centres, which should be prevented.

Advocate Aparna Bhat, appearing for CJP, headed by activist Teesta Setalvad, told the court that the children were being sent to the detention centre despite their parents producing valid parentage documents. There are more than 60 such children, he said.

One such example is Hasmat Ali, who has three minor children. While his and his wife’s names were included in the NRC, their children’s names were not. Since then, he has had to rush from one hearing to another at faraway places, collecting all kinds of documents, incurring huge expenses, even taking money on loan, to ensure that his children do no end up in detention camp. Each of the 61 children excluded from NRC have a similar story of struggle and financial distress from which it will take long to recover.

In its application before the court, the CJP said the matter amounted to direct contravention of various constitutional provisions of the State’s obligation towards children and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. Also, Article 9 holds State parties responsible for ensuring that a child is not separated from his or her parents against their will.

The court order said, “…children of parents who have been given citizenship through NRC will not be separated from their parents and sent to detention centre in Assam pending decision of the application.” It gave four weeks’ time to the Centre and the state government to file their reply.

ASJU secretary Fazlul Karim Kasimi said the court also sought reply from the Centre and the state government on why the names of many people and their children were not in the final NRC.

NRC coordinator

The court also issued notice to the Assam government for its reply on an application seeking action against NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma for his reported comments on his Facebook account that lakhs and lakhs of illegal migrants from Bangladesh managed to get their names in the NRC and comments critical of the final list which had excluded about 19 lakh persons.

The court gave four weeks’ time to the Centre and the state government to reply.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for some petitioners who had opposed the appointment of Sarma as an NRC coordinator, told the court that he should not be allowed to continue in the post as it caused apprehension in the minds of people of his objective approach to the claims of several citizens in the NRC.

Petitioner All Assam Minorities Students’ Union (AAMSU) had urged the court to direct the Assam government to reconsider the appointment of Sarma as the NRC coordinator. In its affidavit, the AAMSU submitted in court newspaper reports about Sarma allegedly posting on his Facebook post “Can’t accept foreigners even if they speak Assamese.”

Kasimi said, “A three-member bench of the court issued notices to the Centre and the state government seeking clarification about the appointment controversies of Sarma.”