Gauhati HC rejects woman’s citizenship plea, says ‘sympathy cannot be misapplied’
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The Gauhati High Court on Monday rejected a woman’s plea challenging a 2017 tribunal order that declared her a foreigner, saying “sympathy cannot be misapplied” in cases involving undocumented migrants and foreigners, The Indian Express reported.
The interest of the country must be given “paramount consideration”, the bench said. It held that Mustt Hasena Bhanu had failed to provide sufficient documentary evidence to establish her Indian citizenship and her claimed family links, the newspaper reported.
The court was hearing Bhanu’s challenge to a May 19, 2017, order of a foreigners’ tribunal, which had declared her a foreigner who entered India after March 25, 1971.
The tribunal had found that she failed to establish her links to the people she identified as her father and grandfather.
The foreigners tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship based on lineage and a 1971 cut-off date. They rely primarily on documents submitted by persons to establish their family’s residency in Assam or India before 1971.
Those declared foreigners by the tribunals have the option to appeal the decision before the High Court or the Supreme Court.
Foreigners tribunals have been accused of arbitrariness and bias, and declaring persons foreigners on the basis of minor spelling mistakes, a lack of documents or lapses in memory.
On Monday, the High Court upheld...