Assam: After six years, women declared Indian citizen in Cachar

Silchar, Oct 13: Dulubi Bibi, aged 50 years, a resident of Udharbond in Cachar district, who was declared by the Foreigners' Tribunal 3rd, Silchar as an illegal migrant from Bangladesh for incongruities found in the electoral voter’s list has been declared an Indian citizen based on circumstantial evidence by the same Tribunal on October 7.

Daughter of Sirai Uddin Laskar and wife of Baktar Uddin, Dulubi Bibi had spent over two years since 2018 at the detention centre inside Silchar Central Jail following a judgement passed by the same Tribunal vide an order on March 20, 2017 as an illegal foreigner during hearing of a 1998 case under the Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunals Act (which was later re-registered under the Foreigners Tribunals Act in 2015). The court had found that her name appeared as Dulubi Bibi, Dulabjan Begum and Dulubi Bibi in different voters' lists.

"Considering the materials and discussions, we found that these are not trustworthy. The OP (Dulubi Bibi) failed to prove that she and her father were born in India and resided in Indian territory prior to 1971. Hence, I am of the considered opinion that she is a foreigner post 25.03.1971, migrated into India illegally," wrote BK Talukdar, Member FT-3. Accordingly, police picked Dulubi on April 28, 2018 and sent her to the detention centre.

However, being aggrieved by the decision of the Tribunal, the family of Dulubi approached the Gauhati High Court. During the Covid-19 menace, she was allowed to step out of the centre on bail following orders from the Supreme Court of India.

The order dated 7/10/2023 given by BK Talukdar, Member Foreigners' Tribunal 3rd in Silchar, stated 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 voter lists, they are to be appreciated without any doubt. "According to the report submitted by the Superintendent of Police (B) with related documents including a copy of the NRC details of 1966, a copy of the printed voter list of 1993, a copy of Gaon Panchayat Certificate, a copy of the Voter Identity 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 that the OP is a citizen of India born out of Indian citizens living in Indian soil,” the order stated.

Meanwhile, reacting to her being declared an Indian citizen, Dulubi Bibi, who had received the order copy on Wednesday, said that she has faced immense hardships and harassment because of the mismatches in her name for which she is not at all responsible. Human rights activist Kamal Chakraborty who was with Dulubi Bibi outside the FT-3 Court told media persons that the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) Cachar provided immense assistance to Dulubi during her court hearings. He claimed that if the Police or the Election Department looked deeper into such cases of incongruities, many such persons will be relieved of the traumatic experiences.