Woman in Assam's Sonitpur commits 'suicide' following rumours of her exclusion from NRC; district administration rubbishes report

Tezpur: A woman in Assam’s Sonitpur district allegedly committed suicide following rumours that her name was not in the updated final National Register of Citizens (NRC) published on Saturday, her family claimed. [caption id=“attachment_4841281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Nrcassam.nic.in[/caption] However, the district administration denied that the incident was linked to the publication of the NRC. Names of 19 lakh people are not in the updated final NRC, which validates bona fide Indian citizens of Assam. Sayera Begum (42), a resident of Dulabari area in Sonitpur, committed suicide by jumping into a well after hearing that her name was not in the NRC, her family claimed. On receiving information about the incident, police rushed to the Dulabari NRC Seva Kendra to investigate the matter and learnt that the name of the deceased woman along with her family members was published in the final list, officials said. Police said the woman’s family did not inform them about the incident and no case has been registered yet. DSP HQ Tezpur Rashmi Rekha Sarmah said local people informed that the woman was mentally unstable. The woman’s husband Somser Ali, a tailor, however, told reporters that his and his two sons’ names were not in the final list. Begum’s name was in the draft and complete draft NRC, published in 2017 and 2018, he claimed. Somser claimed that around 8.30 am someone from the area, just ahead of the publication of the final NRC at 10 am, told his wife that her name will not be in the list and she committed suicide. Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Narshing Pawar said the incident is not linked to the publication of the final NRC as names of the woman’s family members are already in the published final list. On the situation during and post NRC publication, he said it was peaceful in Sonitpur and urged all to maintain peace and not pay heed to rumours.