A PAN card and voter identity card, by themselves, cannot establish Indian citizenship or prove family ties unless backed by the records on the basis of which they were issued, the Gauhati High Court has ruled while upholding a Foreigners Tribunal order declaring a woman from Assam's Darrang district a foreigner.
A division bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund dismissed a writ petition filed by Kulchan Begum, who had challenged a 2018 order of the Foreigners Tribunal in Mangaldai declaring her a foreigner who had entered India after March 25, 1971.
In its November 5 judgment, the High Court held that the documents submitted by Begum, including her father's PAN card and voter identity card and her own Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), were insufficient to establish either her Indian citizenship or her relationship with her claimed parents.
"The PAN card and EPIC exhibited by the petitioner are not proof of citizenship. These are documents that are issued upon self-application without any formal enquiry by the Income Tax Department and Election Commission of India. Therefore, unless the records supplementing the PAN card and EPIC are proved, the said exhibited documents cannot be accepted as proof of Indian citizenship," the High Court said.
Begum had told the court that she was born on April 25, 1977, and raised in Luitpar, Kharghuli, in Guwahati. She identified Sabed Ali and Jaheda Khatun as her grandparents, claiming that their names featured in the 1966 and 1970 electoral rolls of Nosotra village in the erstwhile Kamrup district. She identified Abu Chand Mohammad, their son, as her father.
To establish her citizenship and family lineage, Begum relied on the electoral rolls of 1966 and 1970, her father's PAN card and EPIC, her own voter identity card, a family ration card, the 2018 electoral roll and an acknowledgement receipt for her application to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
She also argued that her father was an Indian citizen whose name appeared in electoral records. He had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Barpeta and the 2011 Assam Assembly election from Baghbar, besides serving as an elected councillor of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation in 2013.
However, the bench said her father's participation in elections and his position as an elected municipal representative did not establish that she was related to him.
"A mere fact that the projected father of the petitioner had offered his candidature in Lok Sabha election and State Assembly election and that he was an elected ward member of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, is not sufficient to prove that the petitioner has been able to establish her linkage with the said person," the judgment said.
The court also pointed to discrepancies in the family history presented by Begum and the ages recorded in the electoral rolls. It noted that her claimed father's name first appeared in the 1997 electoral roll, where he was listed as 50 years old.
The bench further observed that there was no evidence establishing the continuous residence of her claimed grandparents and father in Assam between 1970 and 1997, a gap of 27 years. It said Begum was required to demonstrate that her claimed grandparents and father had continuously resided in the state.
Her other documents also failed to establish the necessary family links, the court said. An identity certificate issued by an Area Sabha representative was not proved by its author, while the ration card and the 2018 electoral roll did not establish her relationship with her claimed parents.
"None of the exhibited documents helps the petitioner discharge her burden under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 to prove that she is a citizen of India and the daughter of Indian parents," the judges observed.
The court also rejected Begum's reliance on an acknowledgement of her NRC application. It said the document could not be treated as evidence because the final draft of the NRC had not been updated when the Foreigners Tribunal delivered its opinion.
The reference against Begum was originally registered in 2000 under the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983. It was subsequently transferred to the Foreigners Tribunal system after the Supreme Court struck down the legislation in 2005.
Upholding the tribunal's decision, the High Court dismissed Begum's writ petition and also recalled and revoked the interim bail granted to her on April 18, 2022.
Foreigners' Tribunals in Assam are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate cases involving disputed citizenship, with March 25, 1971 serving as the cut-off date for determining whether a person entered the state as a foreigner.
Individuals declared foreigners by these tribunals can challenge their orders before the High Court or the Supreme Court.
