Former National Register of Citizens (NRC) Assam State Coordinator Pratik Hajela has been charged with high treason. The case was filed against Pratik Hajela by the current NRC state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sharma.
According to the FIR, it is suspected that the Pratik Hajela voluntarily refused to reverify 33,794 out of 64,247 people identified as “mainly residents of Assam,”, especially in the Samaria circle.
They also refrained from re-certification by marking “OI” to facilitate entry in the names of eligible persons in the NRC. Therefore, this act can be considered as neglect of duty. This is likely to pose a threat to national security.
The then-state co-coordinator of the NRC, Pratik Hajela, had been doing such things to endanger national security. Therefore, it can certainly be considered a criminal offense. The present state coordinator Hitesh Dev Sharma has filed a complaint against Pratik Hajela.
The NRC was implemented for an official record of genuine Indian citizens residing in Assam and was done under the supervision of the Supreme Court. At the same time, it was released on August 31, 2019, in which not more than 19 lakh applicants were included.
Hajela, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed by the apex court as the NRC state coordinator in 2013. He was relieved of charge on November 12, 2019, and the court ordered his transfer from Assam. His home state is Madhya Pradesh.
The official said that we had received a petition from the NRC office. The CID should maintain due process before registering any case. We are looking into the petition.
