SC asks for Centre’s reply on plea seeking NRC for Tripura

The TPP calls itself a “non-political, un-registered organisation” established in June 2014 “to assert the socio-political, socio-economic and socio-cultural right and justice of the oppressed, dominated and marginalised Boroks and other indigenous people, the sons of the soil of Tripura”.

Tripura Law Secretary D M Jamatia told The Indian Express over phone: “The state’s (Tripura’s) standing counsel at the Supreme Court has notified us over phone that notice has been issued. We are awaiting a copy of the order.”

The petition prayed the court to direct the Centre to set up an effective mechanism for detection of illegal immigrants in the state, to set up appropriate numbers of Foreigners Tribunals for speedy and effective trial of those detected as illegal immigrants, to take steps to ensure their deportation from the country, to revise the electoral rolls in Tripura so that names of non-citizens are deleted, to fence and seal the state’s border with Bangladesh, increase border patrolling to check illegal immigrants, restore land “illegally and forcibly alienated” back to the indigenous people and to do the needful to include Kokborok — the language of the indigenous Borok people — in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

It also wants the government “to constitute a National Immigration Commission or any other appropriate body to frame a National Immigration Policy and a National Refugee Policy”.

The plea said “it is a known position that Tripura and Assam have faced the major brunt of illegal immigration from Bangladesh”, and that the NRC update being carried out in Assam “was necessitated due to the persistent illegal influx problem”.

The petition said “Tripura is in worse condition” and that “uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh has caused huge demographic changes in Tripura, which earlier was a predominantly tribal state but now has become a non-tribal state”.

Seeking an NRC update, the petitioners said, “Indigenous people who were once the majority have now become a minority in their own land.” The plea also said that although the demand for NRC in Tripura was taken up with the Central government, “no favorable response could be solicited”.

Recently, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said that the state will implement NRC if the exercise is successfully implemented in Assam.

(With inputs from ENS, Guwahati)