Citizens rush to get their documents in order after Centre notifies CAA rules

On Tuesday afternoon, Imtiaz Khatri waited in line at Siddiqui’s office holding a file labelled ‘NRC - 1987.’ “I was born in Goregaon pre-1987, but my mother did not make a birth certificate for me,” he said. “I was a little worried. So, when Siddiqui held a camp in the Khatri Jamaat Hall, in Pydhonie on Friday, where I live, I had the opportunity to get the documents checked and iron out any creases”

Over the last five years, Nagpada-based lawyer Nadeem Siddiqui has begun his day by sending out bulk messages urging people to straighten their documents to prove their Indian citizenship. On Tuesday, there was a new addition to the message -- ‘Badi khabar’ was prefixed to the news of the newly notified Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, which grants citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Advocate Nadeem Siddiqui helps people with their documents in Nagpada. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

It was a busy day for Siddiqui. With CAA’s implementation, fear of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) following is on the minds of the minority community, leading to people calling Siddiqui and others like him, to fix any gaps and mistakes that may exist in their documents which could be an impediment to prove their citizenship.

On Tuesday afternoon, Imtiaz Khatri waited in line at Siddiqui’s office holding a file labelled ‘NRC - 1987.’ “I was born in Goregaon pre-1987, but my mother did not make a birth certificate for me,” he said. “I was a little worried. So, when Siddiqui held a camp in the Khatri Jamaat Hall, in Pydhonie on Friday, where I live, I had the opportunity to get the documents checked and iron out any creases.”

Last week, Ayaaz Mullah arrived from Karad, Satara, to enquire about the mismatches in his child’s documents. Not mentioning fears around the CAA or NRC, he said, “I just want to ensure that there is no trouble going ahead.”

Siddiqui’s altruism stemmed from personal experience. He participated in the 55-odd days of the anti-CAA/ NRC push backs, from December 2019, at Mumbai Bagh in Nagpada, “not protesting, but working, spreading awareness on the importance of getting people’s documents in order.”

At the time he found gaps in the records of his own family members which he corrected soon. “I found many mismatches. My name was spelled with two ‘e’s, but in some documents, it was swapped with a ‘y’,” he explained. “Despite knowing my way around the legal system, as an advocate, it took me three months to fix.”

During the pandemic-driven lockdown, he switched to posting videos on YouTube to raise awareness.

Since the time he opened his office in Nagpada in January 2022, between 100 and 125 people drop in each day to set right various inconsistencies in their documents.

“A majority have concerns about NRC. Often, we cannot accommodate them all in a day,” said Siddiqui.

Siddiqui is not the only one mobilising the public pre-emptively to get their documents in order for NRC.

“Till 2021, we were called five times a day by community leaders to hold advisory training sessions with marginalized groups such as Dalits, migrants, people from slums, farmers, Adivasis, workers, trade unions, and of course, Muslims, because of our work in Assam,” said Teesta Setalvad, secretary of Citizens of Justice and Peace. “Subsequently, there was a lull until the government reactivated it with Monday’s notification. Since then, there have been frantic calls from all marginalised communities.”

Danish Lambe, a Mira Road-based IT professional, who has been facilitating documentation for 12 years, now offers free evaluation for NRC and consults with a team of lawyers when he comes across challenges. He uses his mobile van to help citizens in various parts of the city. On Tuesday, the van was in Byculla, and Lambe and his associates were seen at work.

“There are no definite rules or requirements for NRC. We check a few basic documents, which include the birth certificate, school leaving certificate, passport and voter’s ID. We scrutinise the uniformity in the spelling of the names, date and place of birth,” said Lambe.

Salim Khan, a Wadala-based social worker, said the most common glitch exists in spellings of names. “The first, middle and last names need to be in the same order in all documents. The name of the parent should also match the parent’s name in their own documents, as establishing that link is crucial,” he said.

Then there is the problem of the date of birth. ”In their haste to put their children in school, people put any date or submit an affidavit with a different date of birth. This creates rift in the school leaving certificate,” said Khan, who gets calls for help from NGOs, mosques, housing societies, etc.

Today, the older lot is anxious about the future of the young ones, observed Siddiqui. “It could be because they have witnessed the displacement of partition, and the horrors are real in their minds,” he said.

“CAA is the first step to NRC,” said Siddiqui. “But it is not only the Muslims who will face harassment to establish proof of citizenship. Muslims will be among them, and they will not have the respite CAA offers to people of other religions, although applying for citizenship under CAA will not be so easy either.”