By- Rhytham Jain
Recently in Karim Ganj, Assam the Foreigners Tribunal of Assam has observed that the NRC List which was published in the year 2019 is final and it does not need any further changes. The tribunal also noted that this NRC list was formed according to the orders of the Supreme court of India and also under its monitoring. This observation came after while the foreign tribunal declared a doubtful voter whose name is also there in the final NRC list as an Indian citizen. According to this NRC list, the national identity cards are yet to be issued to the citizens whose names are included in the list.
Bikram Singha’s citizenship is suspected even after his name is enrolled in the voter’s list for the year 1997 by the Electoral Registration Officer. Allegations on him were that he had not produced relevant documents before the local verification officer. Thus, he is a doubtful voter. But also, his name with his father’s name is mentioned in the final NRC list.
According to the tribunal, the doubtful voter is those persons who are identified in electoral rolls but they are declared as foreigners by the tribunal. But they cannot be included in the NRC list till their dispute did not get resolved as being a foreigner in the tribunal.
It was the case of Singha when he was born in the year 1978 and born in India. It was also argued that his father and his grandfather were permanent residents of that village where he was born. He also mentioned that his grandfather also served in Indian Air Force from 1972 to 2001 and his own name and his father’s name are also there in the voting list of Assam. For the support of his all statements, he submitted many documents before the court which are voters list, land docs, father’s discharge papers, Aadhar card, father’s pension orders, and many more documents.
Inclusion of his name in the voting list was opposed by the state as being illegal due to his case is pending in the foreigner’s tribunal.
So according to the aforementioned statements or proofs by the plaintiff, the court held that he is a citizen of India as he is a born Indian and also his father served in Indian Air Force. SO, he was given full citizenship of India under section 3(1) of the citizenship act, 1955. The court said there is nothing adverse found on record so he is eligible to get citizenship.
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