Assam woman declared Indian citizen after 2-year detention as foreigner
Guwahati: In what has once again raised serious question over the judicial process to detect and deport foreigners in Assam, a woman from state's Cachar district, who spent two years in a detention camp after being declared a foreigner due to a mismatch in the names of her father and grandfather in multiple voters' lists, was declared an Indian citizen by a Foreigner's Tribunal on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
It was in 2017 that Dulubi Bibi, 48, was declared a “foreigner” by a Foreigners’ Tribunal in Assam because of inconsistencies in her name in the voter lists, and sent to a detention camp where she spent two years.
But in fact her suffering had started much earlier — in 1997. A resident of Khaspur village in Assam’s Cachar district, Bibi first came under the scanner of the Electoral Registration Officer during the revision of electoral rolls from the Udharbond assembly constituency that year. Her name, listed as Dulubi Bibi in the draft electoral roll, had not featured in earlier voter lists, which raised a doubt on her citizenship.
The name of the father of Dulubi Bibi alias Dolabjan Begum, from Khaspur of Udharbond block, has appeared as Sirai Mia in one list and Sirai Uddin in another. Even her grandfather's name has appeared as Majmil Ali Laskar in one place and Majmil Ali in another, casting doubts on her antecedents.
A case was registered under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act the following year, but it was only in 2015 that she received a notice from the Foreigners’ Tribunal. On March 20, 2017, the tribunal declared her a “foreigner” who had entered the country after March 25, 1971.
Dulubi Bibi moved Gauhati HC in May this year challenging the tribunal's order declaring her a foreigner.
In an order dated October 7, the Foreigners’ Tribunal stated that on the basis of documents submitted, it found “very much detailed information of the relationship of (Bibi’s) family members, which reveals the continuity of the family”. It declared that she “is a Citizen of India born out of Indian Citizens living in Indian soil”.
Silchar-based social activist Kamal Chakraborty, who assisted Bibi with her case, told reporters, “The problem is inconsistencies in different voter lists. Across the country, people have never seen what their names are listed as in voting lists, but this has huge consequences for people whose citizenship is under the scanner.”
According to government records, as of March 15 this year, there were 185 “declared foreign nationals to be deported” lodged in the dedicated “detention centres” for “illegal foreigners” in Goalpara. (EOM)
