<p class="title">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It also found that the statements of local villagers have corroborated those documents.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>
<p class="title">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“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.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It also found that the statements of local villagers have corroborated those documents.</p>.<p class="bodytext">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.</p>
