Assam Woman Declared Indian 9 Years After Son Died by Suicide Over Citizenship Issue

An 82-year-old Assam woman has been declared Indian nine years after her son allegedly died by suicide after being served a notice to prove his citizenship. The woman also received a similar notice three months ago and finally she was declared an Indian on Wednesday.

The Foreigners’ Tribunal in Silchar in Cachar district ruled that the woman Akol Rani Namasudhra was not a foreigner after she had successfully proved her cases by adducing cogent, reliable and admissible evidence.

Akol, who is a resident of Haritikar village, about 20 km from Silchar was summoned by the Tribunal earlier in February, based on a case first registered in 2000 alleging she had illegally entered India after March 25, 1971.

According to a report of The Indian Express, Akol’s children Anjali and Arjun also received summons from the Tribunal in 2012 to prove their citizenship and disturbed by the summons, Arjun took his own life, said family members.

In 2015, Anjali was declared Indian by the Tribunal.

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However, in what Anjali described as a “shock”, Akol was served a notice in February 2022. “We had already gone through a lot because of what happened to my brother. We could not believe that after all that, after what the Prime Minister said, my mother would have to go through it again,” she said.

Local lawyers helped the family. “They bore all the costs, without charging us anything. So that was a relief,” said Anjali, 55 as reported by The Indian Express.

Silchar-based advocate Anil Dey while quoted by the newspaper said Akol was a “genuine” resident of Assam. “She was born and brought up here. Apart from her name appearing in voters lists in 1965, 1970, 1977…she also had pre-1971 land deeds in her name,” he said, adding that this was the basis on which they were able to prove her citizenship.

At the Tribunal, Akol had submitted that her father Gopi Ram Namasudhra was a permanent resident of Haritikar — and that after her marriage to Ananta Kumar Namasudhra, she cast her vote for the first time in 1965 in the village which fell under the Katigorah Legislative Assembly constituency.

During cross-examination, Akol said her daughter was declared Indian in 2015 on the basis of her voter documents.

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