GUWAHATI: A woman in Assam who was declared a “foreigner” by a Foreigners’ Tribunal and detained in a detention camp for more than two years has been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
This is the first known case in which a person who spent time in a detention camp after being declared a foreigner has been granted Indian citizenship under the CAA.
The woman, Depali Das (60), who was born in the Sylhet district (then in East Pakistan, now in Bangladesh) of Bangladesh in 1966, had applied for a certificate of naturalisation. The government granted her citizenship after she fulfilled the conditions laid down in the Act.
The certificate of naturalisation, issued by Biswajit Pegu, Director of the Directorate of Census Operations, Assam, stated that Depali would be “entitled to all political and other rights, powers and privileges, and be subject to all obligations, duties and liabilities to which an Indian citizen is entitled or subject.”
In its judgment dated February 5, 2019, the Foreigners’ Tribunal No. 6 in Silchar held that Depali was an illegal migrant who had entered India after March 25, 1971, and therefore had no right to reside within the territory of India and was liable to be deported.
The tribunal directed the police to restrict her free movement and take necessary action in accordance with the law. It also ordered the deletion of her name from the electoral roll.
The directions followed a police officer’s “reference” stating that she had entered India after March 25, 1971, and had failed to produce valid documents to prove her Indian nationality.
Following the tribunal’s judgment, Depali was detained at the Silchar detention camp from May 10, 2019, to May 17, 2021.
“Her case is not merely different but historic, because despite being declared a foreigner and undergoing detention, she has now been granted Indian citizenship under the CAA,” the woman’s lawyer, Dharmananda Deb, said.
The Assam Accord, signed between the All Assam Students’ Union and the government led by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 after the six-year-long Assam Agitation, states that illegal immigrants who entered India after March 25, 1971, are to be detected and deported.
Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that determine whether a person is an Indian citizen or a foreigner based on this cut-off date.