The Gauhati High Court last week set aside an ex-parte order by a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) declaring a Cachar district resident and his family members as “foreigners” and said that the petitioners should be given another opportunity to prove they are Indians.
The court also said such opinions declaring people as “foreigners” should be made on the basis of analysis and not as a “default”.
In 2018, a tribunal in Cachar declared Rajendra Das and four of his family members as “foreigners” after they failed to appear before it following summons the previous year.
Hearing a writ petition, a High Court Bench of Justices N Kotiswar Singh and Malasri Nandi said that the petitioners should be offered another opportunity to “prove that they are Indians and not foreigners”.
The judges said that if the petitioners were able to prove the authenticity of the documents presented before the court, they “may have a legitimate claim that they are Indians and not foreigners”.
The petitioner had submitted to the court voters’ lists of 1965 and 1970, in which the names of Das’ parents were mentioned, and a marriage certificate of Das and his wife issued by the Mahadevpur gaon panchayat in Cachar.
