SC comes to aid of Assam woman facing deportation
Coming to the aid of Sofiya Khatun, a 50-year-old woman facing deportation on the ground of being an illegal migrant, the Supreme Court has asked the Assam government to file a report by September 5 explaining how she could be a “foreigner” if her parents, five brothers and husband were all Indians.
Sofiya Khatun, held in an Assam detention centre since 2016, has challenged the Barpeta Foreigners Tribunal and Assam high court orders declaring her a foreigner after she could not prove a link to her father, Hasan Munshi, because of a mismatch in the spelling of his name in various voter lists.
The tribunal and the high court also held that Khatun was not able to give her correct place and date of birth, which are vital to proving citizenship. But her brothers and her husband, all Indian citizens, have come out in her defence, filing affidavits in the Supreme Court saying she was an Indian citizen and was being wrongly held in detention.
Hearing the petition filed by Khatun, a bench of Justices Kurien Joseph and Sanjay Kishan Kaul recently asked the Assam government a series of questions: “Is it true that five brothers of the petitioner are citizens of India? Is it true that the husband of the petitioner is a citizen of India? And is it true that father and mother of the petitioner are citizens of India?”
Trouble for Khatun started in 1996 when she was classified as a “D- Voter” (doubtful voter). After her case was referred to the foreigners’ tribunal, it issued notices to her, asking her to prove her citizenship. But she was unable to give her correct place and date of birth, leading to her being declared a foreigner.
In her petition to the Supreme Court, Khatun has said that she is illiterate, and since her grandparents and parents were dead, she could not get the typological errors in their names corrected.
“Anomalies in the spellings of names are extremely common though unfortunate occurrence and in no way are a reflection on the claims of citizenship of the petitioner,” her petition contended. ASHOK BAGRIYA
NEW DELHI: