PAN Card, Voter ID Alone Cannot Prove Citizenship: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court has upheld a Foreigners Tribunal order declaring a woman from Assam's Darrang district a foreigner. The woman had entered India after March 25, 1971, the cut-off date under immigration rules.

Dismissing her petition, the court ruled that PAN cards and voter cards alone cannot establish Indian citizenship or prove family relationships.

A division bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund delivered the judgment on November 5 on a petition filed by Kulchan Begum, challenging a 2018 order of the Foreigners Tribunal at Mangaldai. The court found that the documents submitted by Begum did not adequately establish her relationship with the people she identified as her parents and grandparents.

Documentary Evidence Questioned

Begum told the court that she was born on April 25, 1977. She claimed that Sabed Ali and Jaheda Khatun were her grandparents and that Abu Chand Mohammad is her father. To support her citizenship claim, she relied on electoral rolls from 1966 and 1970, documents belonging to the person she claimed was her father, her own voter ID, a family ration card, and the 2018 electoral roll.

She also cited her father's political background, including his participation in the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Barpeta and the 2011 Assam Assembly election from Baghbar. He had also served as a Guwahati Municipal Corporation councillor in 2013.

However, the bench said his electoral and political background did not establish that Begum was his daughter.

On the PAN cards and Electoral Photo Identity Cards submitted as evidence, the court observed that merely possessing these documents was not enough. The applications and verification records on the basis of which they were issued also needed to be proved.

The bench further noted that the projected father's name appeared in electoral rolls for the first time in 1997, when his recorded age was 50. It found that the evidence failed to establish the family's continuous residence in Assam between 1970 and 1997.

The court also held that the ration card, electoral records, and an Area Sabha representative's certificate did not sufficiently establish the claimed family relationship.

NCR Receipt Isn't Citizenship Proof

Begum had also submitted an acknowledgement receipt relating to her application under the National Register of Citizens process. The court said the NRC exercise had not reached the stage of publication of a final updated register when the Foreigners Tribunal delivered its opinion. The acknowledgement receipt, therefore, could not be treated as proof of citizenship, it said.

The woman had sought permission to examine additional witnesses, including her parents, relatives, and the Area Sabha representative, claiming that her previous lawyer had advised her that the documents already submitted were sufficient.

The bench rejected the request, noting that she had been given several opportunities to produce evidence before the Tribunal. It found no material to support her allegation against her previous lawyer.

The court also dismissed her contention that the Tribunal had passed its order without hearing her. Its records showed that both sides were heard on July 20, 2018, before the final opinion was scheduled for August 21 that year.

The proceedings against Begum had begun in 2000 under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983. Following the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the legislation in 2005, the case was transferred to the Foreigners Tribunal system.

Finding no grounds to interfere with the Tribunal's decision, the High Court dismissed the petition and revoked the interim bail granted to Begum on April 18, 2022.

Foreigners Being Returned To Bangladesh

The judgment comes amid the Assam government's ongoing action against those declared foreigners by the tribunals. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said the government is invoking the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, to facilitate the return of illegal migrants to Bangladesh.

In a written reply in the Assam Assembly in July, the government disclosed that 193 people declared foreigners had been pushed back to Bangladesh between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2026. Of these, 67 were sent back under the 1950 Act, while the remaining 126 were categorised as having been sent back through other means.

However, social activist Kamal Chakraborty told Hindustan Times that several people declared foreigners by the tribunals continue to live in Assam, with some still having their names in electoral rolls.