Gauhati HC Upholds Foreigner Declaration for Assam Man

The Gauhati High Court has upheld a Foreigners Tribunal's decision declaring a 38-year-old Guwahati resident a foreigner, despite his submission of numerous documents and oral testimony intended to prove his Indian citizenship. In a judgment delivered on June 30, a division bench dismissed the writ petition of Aminul Hoque, finding the evidence he provided was either legally inadmissible or insufficient to establish his lineage and citizenship.

Hoque, a daily-wage laborer, had challenged a February 2019 order from the Foreigners Tribunal in Kamrup. To support his case, he submitted 15 documents, including computerized extracts of the 1951 National Register of Citizens listing his father and grandparents, voter lists from 1966 to 2017, a 1973 land purchase deed, a PAN card, a voter ID card, and a 2017 school certificate. His father also provided oral testimony in court.

The court, however, systematically rejected the evidence. It ruled the 1951 NRC extracts were inadmissible, stating they were unproven computer-generated statements lacking the required legal certification and were barred from evidence under census law. The school certificate was dismissed because the issuing...