The Gauhati High Court has upheld a Foreigners Tribunal order declaring a woman from Assam's Darrang district a foreigner, observing that PAN cards and voter ID cards alone cannot prove Indian citizenship or establish family relationships.

A Division Bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund, in a judgment, dismissed a petition filed by Kulchan Begum challenging a 2018 order of the Foreigners Tribunal, Mangaldai.

The High Court found that the documents submitted by Begum failed to establish her relationship with the persons she claimed were her parents and grandparents.

Documents Failed To Prove Family Relationship

Begum told the Court that she was born on April 25, 1977. She claimed that Sabed Ali and Jaheda Khatun were her grandparents and Abu Chand Mohammad was her father.

To prove her Indian citizenship, she relied on electoral rolls from 1966 and 1970, documents belonging to her claimed father, her voter ID card, a family ration card and the 2018 electoral roll.

She also pointed out that her father had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Barpeta and the 2011 Assam Assembly elections from Baghbar. He had also served as a Guwahati Municipal Corporation councillor in 2013.

However, the High Court said that her father's political background did not prove that Begum was his daughter.

The Bench also observed that simply producing PAN cards and voter ID cards was not enough. She was required to prove the applications and verification records on the basis of which these documents were issued.

The Court further noted that her claimed father's name appeared in electoral rolls for the first time in 1997, when his recorded age was 50. The documents also failed to show that the family had continuously lived in Assam between 1970 and 1997.

The Court found that the ration card, electoral records and certificate issued by an Area Sabha representative were also insufficient to establish her claimed family relationship.

NRC Application Receipt Cannot Prove Citizenship

Begum had also submitted an acknowledgement receipt relating to her application under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process.

The High Court said that the final updated NRC had not been published when the Foreigners Tribunal passed its order. Therefore, the acknowledgement receipt could not be treated as proof of Indian citizenship.

Begum had also requested permission to examine additional witnesses, including her parents, relatives and the Area Sabha representative. She claimed that her previous lawyer had advised her that the documents already submitted were sufficient.

The Bench rejected this request, noting that she had been given several opportunities to produce evidence before the Tribunal. It also found no material to support her allegations against her previous lawyer.

The Court further rejected her claim that the Tribunal had passed its order without hearing her. The records showed that both sides were heard on July 20, 2018, before the final order was scheduled for August 21, 2018.

The proceedings against Begum had started