A family in lower Assam’s Bongaigaon district has received a notice from the local NRC authority saying that their nine-year-old daughter has been excluded from the register as she was a “declared foreigner”.

Signed by the local registrar of citizen registration under Boitamari circle in the district on June 29, the notice mentions that the girl, a class III student, was a declared foreigner and hence her name was in the NRC exclusion list.

The family members informed the media on Thursday. A relative said, “The notice has created panic among the family members as there were no cases pending against anybody in any foreigners tribunal in the state. The family has all the citizenship records, including the 1951 NRC and the names of all the family members were published in the part and final drafts of the NRC.”

“Her name should have been naturally included as her parents and forefathers’ names are there in all the voter lists and even in the final NRC draft. But it seems a conspiracy of the home department as the NRC authority received the lists of declared foreigners from it. The border police should produce documents to show which foreigners tribunal heard and declared the girl a foreigner,” alleged Rejaul Karim Sarkar, president of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union.

The parents of the girl have filed a fresh appeal at the office of the subdivisional officer, Abhayapuri, on July 5 for re-inclusion of her name in the final NRC.

Parthopratim Neog, circle officer and circle registrar of citizen registration, said, “Prima facie it seems a case of mistaken identity. There might be a declared foreigner by the same name, whose name was picked up automatically by the software and the notice sent to the girl’s family by mistake. Her parents’ names are already there in the final draft NRC and there is every likelihood that her name will be published in the updated register on July 31 along with that of her family.”