NEW DELHI —The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the deportation of four Muslim women from Assam who were declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal in the state and later detained.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and V Mohan on Friday (June 5) issued notices to the Assam government, the Centre and the Election Commission of India, asking them to respond within four weeks. Until then, the deportation of the four women will remain on hold.
Basiram Nessa, Musstt Nureza Begum, Saleha Khatun and Sarbhanu Begum challenged the tribunal orders that questioned their Indian citizenship.
Saleha Khatun, a 50-year-old woman currently lodged in the Goalpara detention centre, was declared a foreigner by a tribunal in Darrang district, a finding later upheld by the Gauhati High Court.
Before the Supreme Court, Khatun argued that she had produced several documents supporting her claim of being an Indian citizen. These included electoral rolls from before 1971 carrying the names of her parents, along with NRC legacy records, voter lists, certificates issued by local authorities and testimony to establish her family lineage.
Despite this, the tribunal rejected her claim, pointing to inconsistencies in family details and age records. The tribunal also refused to rely on certain linkage certificates because the officials who issued them were not examined during the proceedings.
Sarbhanu Begum also approached the apex court after being declared a foreigner despite presenting relevant pre-1971 documents.
According to her petition, the tribunal questioned her citizenship largely because her name appeared with different spellings in various records. A discrepancy involving her husband’s name in one electoral roll was also cited against her.
She argued that the tribunal failed to properly appreciate both the documentary evidence and witness statements placed before it.
Musstt Nureza Begum’s case centres on an ex parte order passed by the tribunal. She maintains that she did appear after receiving notice, but being illiterate and living below the poverty line, she was unaware of the legal process.
According to her plea, she signed a register at the tribunal believing she had fulfilled the required formalities. She later discovered that a decision had been passed against her in her absence.
The Gauhati High Court upheld the tribunal’s findings, observing that she had received notice but did not adequately pursue her case.
Basiram Nessa also challenged the finding that she failed to establish her citizenship. She told the court that she had submitted voter records from 1965 and 1989 containing the names of her grandfather and father, along with certificates from local authorities supporting her family connections.
Her petition maintained that the tribunal did not give due weight to the evidence on record and wrongly concluded that she had failed to prove her ancestry.
With the Supreme Court now stepping in, the deportation process has been paused for all four women. The matter will remain under consideration while the court examines the legality of the orders passed against them.
