10 years after son Arjun's death, Akol Rani Namasudra declared Indian citizen

Silchar, May 12: In a significant development, 83 year old Akol Rani Namasudra, a resident of Cachar district whose citizenship was questioned and she was asked to prove her identity has finally won her long vigil. On Wednesday, the Foreigners Tribunal 4 or FT-4 recognized her as an Indian citizen.

It may be recalled that Arjun Namasudra, Akol Rani's son had allegedly committed suicide ten years ago after he was declared as a doubtful voter by the Foreigners Tribunal. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was BJP's the then prime ministerial candidate during his address at the Barak Vikas Samavesh at Ramnagar here had said " Arjun had sacrificed his life not for himself but for lakhs of people who are kept in the detention camps across Assam. Once the BJP forms Government in Delhi, all the detention camps would be crushed."

The order issued by the Foreigner's Tribunal-4 or FT-4 Attached Member Dharmananda Deb said, "Akol Rani Namasudra, wife of late Ananta Namasudra, resident of Haritikor part-I under Katigorah constituency of Cachar district has successfully proved her case by adducing cogent, reliable, and admissible evidence. She has clearly been able to establish the fact of her presence of herself on Indian soil as well as in the State of Assam, relatable to a period prior to 01.01.1966 in accordance with the law. Hence, I am of the considered opinion that Akol Rani Namasudra is a citizen of India and she is not a foreigner."

Akol Rani's daughter Anjali Roy, who had reportedly won a similar case in 2013 has expressed great sigh of relief after her mother was declared a citizen of India following the proceedings at FT-4.

Advocate Anil Chandra Dey, who had fought the case for Akol Rani in the Foreigners Tribunal along with Advocates Amarendra Paul, Champak Dey and Siddhartha Chakraborty informed that Akol Rani was first questioned of her citizenship in a case vide I.M.(D).T Act Case no. 85 of 2000 dated 29.02.2000. However, later when the I.M.(D).T Act 1983 was struck down by the honourable Apex Court of India in 2005, this case was converted and sent to Foreigners Tribunal under the Foreigners Act 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunal) Order 1964 vide F.A. Case No. 557 of 2006. Subsequently, the FT-2 at Silchar registered the case in 2011 and thereafter the case was transferred to FT-4 for disposal and In February this year, this case was allotted to Attached Member of FT-4 for speedy disposal.

In February, Akol Rani was served notice by the FT-4 asking her to prove her identity, Advocate Dey said. "When Akol Rani approached us, we took the case and submitted all relevant documents as exhibits including certified copies of voters' list of 1965, 1970, 1977, 1985 etc , ration card, membership of Rajatilla cooperative society, land deed etc and also after the recording statements (evidences) from Defense Witness-1 who is Akol Rani Namasudra herself and Defense Witness-2 Anjali Roy, Akol Rani's daughter, the Attached Member Dharmananda Deb at FT-4, after careful analysis of the evidences and going through the necessary documents during the proceedings have declared Akol Rani Namasudra as an Indian citizen," the advocate mentioned.