SC directs release of 'foreign' woman

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the release of a woman from Assam on bail. She was lodged in a detention centre on suspicion of being an illegal foreign national.

A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Sanjay Kishan Kaul took into account an affidavit filed by Deputy Secretary, General Administration Department, Assam, pointing towards a report of the inquiry conducted by the Superintendent of Police, Barpeta, stating that five brothers and husband of the woman were Indian citizens.

The court found that Nurul Haque, Matiur Rahman, Sirajul Haque, Monir Uddin and Osman Gonee, were projected as the biological brothers of woman-petitioner, Sofia Khatun. Her husband Fuljar Husain was also an Indian citizen.

“The enquiry finds that the said persons are Indian citizens on basis of their names appearing in voters list, 1997 voters list, electoral photo-identity cards as well as the 1965 and 1970 voters’ lists in which the name of their projected patents, namely, Hasen Munshi and Saburan Bibi are included,” the court noted.

It also found that the statements of local villagers have corroborated those documents.

On a plea by the state government, the court, however, allowed it to conduct a full-fledged inquiry and asked the woman to be present before the police on the last date of every month.