Gauhati High Court declares Assam man 'foreigner'

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has upheld a Foreigners' Tribunal order declaring an Assam resident a foreigner, holding that he failed to establish his Indian citizenship despite submitting 15 separate documents as evidence to prove his citizenship.

A bench comprising justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Shamima Jahan, in its order dated June 30, observed, "Though the petitioner has exhibited 15 documents as exhibits, the same does not help the petitioner to establish that he has been able to discharge his burden as required under Section 9... to prove that he is not a foreigner but an Indian citizen." Section 9 of the Act states that the burden of proving citizenship lies on the person if a question arises as to whether they are a foreigner. Aminul Hoque, the petitioner, submitted copies of the 1951 National Register of Citizens, which recorded the names of his grandparents and father, certified copies of electoral rolls containing the names of his parents and himself from 1966 to 2017, land purchase documents from 1973, his PAN, voter ID, and a school certificate.

Hoque's father also appeared before the court and identified the petitioner as his son. However, the court held that mere oral testimony, without relevant documentary evidence, was insufficient to establish the link between the two. In February 2019, a Foreigners' Tribunal in Assam's Kamrup district declared Hoque a foreigner, following which he approached the high court.