Guwahati: A 50-year-old woman who was declared an illegal migrant from Bangladesh by a foreigners tribunal in Assam’s Cachar district in 2017 has been declared an Indian citizen.
Dulubi Bibi, a resident of Cachar’s Udharbond area, was declared an illegal migrant by a member of Foreigners Tribunal-3 of Silchar on March 20, 2017, during the hearing of a 1998 case under Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunals Act (which was later re-registered under Foreigners Tribunals Act in 2015).
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The tribunal found that her name appeared as Dulubi Bibi, Dulabjan Begum and Dulubi Bibi in different voters’ lists and there were mismatches in her father’s and grandfather’s names in those voters’ lists.
She also failed to establish a connection between her parents’ names.
However, in May 2023, Bibi challenged the 2017 FT order in the Gauhati High Court. The District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), Cachar provided her with free legal support and appointed advocate Mahitosh Das as her lawyer.
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Das said that the HC ordered the member of Silchar’s FT-3 to hear the case again.
During the FT’s hearings, Bibi claimed that she had adequate evidence to prove her connection with her grandfather whose name appeared in multiple voters’ lists before 1965.
On October 7, 2023, the same member of FT-3, BK Talukdar, who declared her an illegal migrant in 2017, declared her an Indian citizen.
Talukdar in his order wrote that considering the facts and materials submitted and depositions in the earliest and present detailed of 1965, 1985 and 1997 along with the new documents of 1993 and 2015 voters list are to be appreciated without any doubt.
He wrote, “According to the report submitted by the superintendent of police (B) with related documents including copies of NRC details of 1966, printed voters list of 1993, Gaon Panchayat Certificate, Elector Voter Identify Card and an affidavit stating that the OP Dulabjan Begum daughter of Sirai Uddin Laskar, Dulabjan Begum daughter of Sirai Mia and Dulabjan Bibi are one and the same person.”
“In view of that my considered opinion is the OP (Dulubi Bibi) is a citizen of India born out of Indian citizens living in Indian soil, the order stated,” Talukdar wrote.
Bibi received the official order copy from FT-3 on Wednesday afternoon.
“I am a Muslim woman, and my family is conservative. I used to work as a cook before going to jail. I’m not sure if my husband will accept me, or if I’ll get any work now. Will the government take responsibility for this damage,” Bibi told HT.
A social activist from Silchar, Kamal Chakrabarty helped Bibi in this process.