Guwahati, June 25:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday intervened in a high-profile citizenship case from Assam, staying the deportation of a woman declared a “foreigner” under the Foreigners Act, 1946.
The petitioner, Jaynab Bibi from Nagaon district, claims she is an Indian citizen by birth and has presented multiple documents to establish her family’s long-standing presence in Assam. A bench comprising Justices K.V. Viswanathan and N. Kotiswar Singh directed the Union government not to take any coercive action against her until further notice.
The court issued a formal notice to the Centre and scheduled the next hearing for August 25. Bibi’s legal team, led by advocates Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi and Akansha Rai, argued that the declaration made by the Foreigners Tribunal in 2017—which was later upheld by the Gauhati High Court in February 2025—was both arbitrary and lacked substantive reasoning.
Bibi, a resident of Muamari village under Dhing Mouza in Nagaon district, challenged the Tribunal’s decision, asserting her right to Indian citizenship. Her lawyers pointed out that the Tribunal and the High Court failed to consider critical documentary evidence, including the names of her grandfather in the 1951 NRC and electoral rolls of 1965 and 1970, and her parents’ names in the voters’ lists of 1989 and 1997. Her name and that of her husband also appear in later electoral rolls.
The petitioner further submitted gram panchayat records to establish her lineage. Despite this, she was declared an “illegal immigrant” without a thorough review of the evidence.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court took note of the concerns previously raised about the random labelling of individuals as foreigners in Assam. Citing a 2024 Supreme Court verdict, Bibi’s counsel highlighted that suspicion alone cannot be the basis for declaring someone a foreigner and that the burden of proof lies with the authorities making such allegations.
The case once again throws the spotlight on the functioning of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam and the plight of individuals caught in lengthy legal battles to prove their citizenship.
— Northeast Press
