Supreme Court says fairness must prevail in citizenship cases, grants relief to 27 declared 'foreigners'

The Supreme Court on Monday held that the process of determining citizenship or declaring a person a foreigner must be fair, while granting relief to 27 individuals who had been declared 'foreigners' by Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.

Describing citizenship as a matter of significant constitutional importance, the court observed: "Citizenship and foreigner status occupy a field of high constitutional and legal significance."

At the same time, the bench acknowledged the government's responsibility to prevent unlawful citizenship claims.

"The State has a legitimate and compelling interest in ensuring that persons who are not legally entitled to claim Indian citizenship do not secure such status by misuse of process, by false claim or delays…" the court said.

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However, it added that such an interest could not come at the cost of judicial fairness.

Orders set aside; coercive action stayed

The bench set aside the decisions of the Gauhati High Court and the Foreigners Tribunals in the connected cases.

It also directed that no coercive action should be taken against the 27 individuals until the tribunals conduct fresh hearings.

The court clarified that its ruling did not amount to a determination of the petitioners' citizenship status.

Petitioners cited spelling errors in official records

Among those who approached the Supreme Court were Sabitri Dey, Ajbahar Ali, Md Akbar Ali, Abeda Khatun and Anowara Khatun.

They argued that they had been declared foreigners on hyper-technical grounds, including typographical mistakes and minor spelling discrepancies in old electoral rolls.

The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta granted them relief but made it clear that it had not examined the evidence to determine whether they were Indian citizens.

Cases stemmed from Assam tribunals

The petitioners had individually challenged the Foreigners Tribunals' decisions before the Gauhati High Court and later the Supreme Court in a series of connected cases against the Indian government.

To establish their citizenship, they relied on historical lineage records, including pre-1971 legacy data, voter lists and land records.

The latest ruling comes after another Supreme Court bench, in June, stayed the deportation of five women who had also been declared 'foreigners' by the tribunals.

In that case, the court granted interim relief and issued notices to the Centre, the Assam government and the Election Commission after the women argued they were facing deportation despite submitting the required documents.

Some of the petitioners had also claimed they were affected by inconsistencies in the spelling of their names in official records.

Legal experts noted that the June order raised wider questions about the standards used by Assam's Foreigners Tribunals while evaluating citizenship claims.