Supreme Court Blocks Deportation of Cooch Behar Woman Branded Foreigner

The Supreme Court recently halted the deportation of a woman declared a foreigner by an Assam Foreigners’ Tribunal. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, requested responses from the Union and Assam governments, the Election Commission, and the NRC Coordinator within three months. Meanwhile, the Court directed that no coercive action be taken against the petitioner based on the Gauhati High Court’s January 11, 2024 judgment.

Maya Burman, a member of the Rajbonshi community, petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge the Gauhati High Court’s January 11 decision. The High Court had upheld a 2019 Foreigners’ Tribunal order declaring her a foreigner due to her inability to provide necessary documents, including her parents’ old voter cards. Her appeal argued it was practically impossible to obtain these documents since she moved to Assam after marrying, originally being from Cooch Behar, West Bengal, and her parents are deceased.

Her appeal argued that other documents linking her to her Indian citizen parents were destroyed in floods. The High Court wrongly dismissed her school-leaving certificate as proof of citizenship because the headmaster was not cross-examined. She contended that it is not possible for her to bring the headmaster from West Bengal to Lakhimpur, Assam.

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