New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed the deportation of a woman from Assam, who had been excluded from the final draft of the state’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), Bar and Bench reported.
In 2019, the Gauhati High Court had upheld a 2017 verdict by a Foreigners Tribunal that the woman was not a citizen of India.
Both courts held that she had entered Assam illegally from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971 – the cut-off date in the northeastern state to prove citizenship.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli on Friday were hearing a plea filed by the woman challenging the High Court order.
Advocate Pijush Kanti Roy, appearing for the woman submitted before the court that all her family members had been declared Indian citizens. However, the Foreigners Tribunal held that she had entered the country illegally and directed the authorities to take action, Live Law reported.
The top court took this argument into consideration to put a stay on the woman’s deportation till the next hearing of the plea after three years and asked the Centre and Assam government to file their responses to the petition.
In her plea, the woman has claimed that she is an Indian citizen by birth. The woman also said that she has submitted documents to prove that the name of her parents existed in voter lists and certificates issued by the local panchayat before 1971.
The final NRC in Assam was published in August 2019 with an aim to distinguish Indian citizens from undocumented immigrants living in the state.
Over 19 lakh persons in Assam were excluded from the final list of the NRC.