Objective

Parichay (পৰিচয়, meaning ‘identity’) is a collaborative effort between law schools in India to provide legal aid to those filing appeals against their exclusion from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. The final list of the NRC, released on August 31, 2019, has been the largest citizenship determination exercise in the world, aimed at creating a definitive list of citizens for the state of Assam. The 19,06,657 persons excluded from this list have 120 days to file appeals before the Foreigners’ Tribunals. The procedural and substantive aspects of the appeals require thorough consideration and this collaborative legal aid network aims to contribute to that process.

Competent and adequate legal representation during this process is particularly crucial because of the severe implications. Not only may appellants lose their citizenship, but they may also be incarcerated in detention centres. In this moment, it is crucial that law schools play their part in ensuring that the NRC appeals are carried out in a fair and transparent manner. In a process like this, constitutional guarantees of access to justice for the poor and the marginalised are extremely difficult to ensure and law schools must respond to this extraordinary challenge. Law schools are uniquely placed to help fulfil this constitutional mandate by ensuring that lawyers representing indigent persons excluded from the NRC are provided necessary assistance to prepare effective appeals.

This collaborative legal aid effort will train and facilitate law students to assist lawyers at the Foreigners’ Tribunals in representing NRC-excluded persons in the appeals process. The clinic will be based in Assam and work in coordination with law schools across the country. Parichay will also provide an invaluable pedagogical component, by exposing law students to practical aspects of litigation in one of the most important contemporary legal processes in the country.

The loss of citizenship erases the identity of an individual in the eyes of the state, and statelessness strips one of the right to have rights, including the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India. Legal aid is the last line of defence against this crisis, and Parichay (পৰিচয়) strives to ensure that no one is rendered stateless for want of effective legal representation.