A woman from Silchar who was declared a foreigner in 2017 was declared a citizen of India last week after the intervention by the Gauhati High Court.
The woman, Sefali Rani Das was declared a foreigner ex parte on September 19, 2017, by Foreigners Tribunal 6.
She is a resident of Mohankhal village of Sonai in the Cachar district.
Following this, she filed a petition at the Gauhati High Court and the HC set aside the order in July 2021 and allowed Das to prove her citizenship.
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She was supposed to prove her citizenship before the Foreigners Tribunal in Silchar.
Last week, her case was heard by the tribunal and it declared Das an Indian citizen based on “cogent, reliable and admissible evidence.”
Dharmananda Deb, a member (judge) of the tribunal, in his opinion, wrote, “She has clearly been able to establish the presence of her grandfather on Indian soil, relatable to the period prior to 25.03.1971 with valid linkage documents of a father as well as herself in accordance with law.”
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Das had claimed that she did not attend the hearing in 2017 as did not receive “proper legal advice” from her then counsel.
She also claimed that she was not “well-versed with the legal provisions”.
She failed to appear before the FT on five dates and so she was declared a foreigner.