Khushi Bajpai
Published on: September 24, 2022 at 19:50 IST
The Supreme Court, on Friday, issued notice in a petition impugning the order of Guwahati High Court, which had affirmed the order of the Foreigner’s Tribunal declaring the petitioner to be a foreigner who had illegally entered India from Bangladesh after the cutoff date, i.e., 25.03.1971.
Advocate, Mr. Piyush Kanti Roy appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that all the family members of the petitioners have been declared Indian citizens.
However, the Foreigner’s Tribunal had held that the petitioner had illegally entered India, and directed the competent authority to initiate proceedings against her, including deletion of her name from the Electoral Rolls.
On 27.11.2012, the petitioner had received a letter from the Foreigner’s Tribunal, Bongaigaon asking her to appear before it, on 19.02.2013.
On 20.05.2013, the petitioner had filed her written statements annexing the relevant document in support of her citizenship.
On 04.06.2015, a Linkage Certificate was issued by the Secretary of Kacheripety Gaon Panchayat, Bongaigaon affirming her relation with her father and her husband.
She failed her affidavit-in-chief with documents to discharge her burden in Section 9.
Her brother also filed an affidavit-in-chief before the tribunal stating that the petitioner was indeed her sister and her vouching for the petitioner’s marriage to her husband.
On 07.06.2017, the tribunal rejected the claim of the petitioner and held that she illegally entered India from Bangladesh after 25.03.1971.
The directions were passed by the tribunal to the Deputy Commission, Bongaigaon to take appropriate steps against the petitioner, including removal of her name from the Electoral Rolls.
The order was challenged before the Guwahati High Court.
While admitting the petition, the High Court had granted bail to the petitioner.
In 2018, when the NRC was published, her name was missing from the list, while her entire family had been declared as Indian citizens.
On 13.06.2019, the high court dismissed the petition and recalled the interim bail granted to her at the time of admission of the writ petition.