An Assam resident who was declared as a foreigner by a tribunal in 2017, has now been granted Indian citizenship, after the Gauhati High Court intervened in the matter.
The Foreigners Tribunal in September 2017 had declared Shefali Rani Das, 23, as a foreigner, The Indian Express reported. The decision had been pronounced ex-parte (without Das being present), as the Cachar district resident had failed to appear before the tribunal on fives dates between February and September 2017.
Das had challenged the FT's decision in the Gauhati High Court, which had, in July 2021, provided her another chance to prove her identity before the Silchar tribunal.
On 17 January, member (judge) of Silchar’s FT-6 Dharmananda Deb considered the case again and declared Das as an Indian citizen.
“We found that Shefali Rani Das’s documents are authentic and genuine. After examining the case thoroughly, we are in opinion that she is an Indian citizen,” the judgment copy states, The Hindustan Times reported.
“She has clearly been able to establish the presence of her grandfather on Indian soil, relatable to the period prior to 25 March 1971 with valid linkage documents of a father as well as herself in accordance with law,” the judgment was quoted as saying by IE.
25 March 1971 is the cut-off date, residence in the state before which is sufficient to prove citizenship in Assam.
In a similar case recently, 55-year-old Assam resident Hasina Bhanu, who was declared as Indian in 2016 and then as a foreigner in 2021 by the Foreigners Tribunal, walked out of detention on 16 December after the intervention of the Gauhati High Court.
The court noted that the tribunal was aware that Bhanu had previously been declared an Indian, and so the second order of the FT cannot be upheld.
(With inputs from The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express)
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