India's top court allows a month longer for citizens' list in Assam state

India's Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for the publication of a citizenship list for the eastern Assam state by a month to Aug. 31, the chief justice said, after the government asked for more time to detect illegal immigrants. Residents of Assam which borders Muslim majority Bangladesh have to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in the country before March 24, 1971. That year hundreds of thousands of people fled Bangladesh during its India-backed war of independence from Pakistan.

"We extend the deadline for final publication of National Register for Citizens in Assam from July 31 to August 31," chief justice Ranjan Gogoi said, adding that floods in Assam made work on the list difficult. Last week the federal government sought more time to compile the citizenship register, saying thousands had produced fake documents to become Indian citizens.

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