GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court has granted interim relief to an elderly woman detained in an Assam detention centre after being declared a 'foreigner.' A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan ordered her release, noting that she had already spent one year and four months in detention and had been unable to present her case before the Foreigners' Tribunal.
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The conditions for the woman’s interim release include the execution of a bond with two sureties amounting to ₹5,000, specification of a verifiable stay address post-release, biometric data storage in a secure database before release, and weekly reporting to a local police station.
"Prima facie, it appears on plain reading of the judgment that for some reason or the other, the appellant was not able to appear before the Foreigner's Tribunal and make good her case that she is not a foreigner but arrived in India within the time period stipulated under Section 6 (A) of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1955," the Court observed.
The woman was detained after the Foreigners' Tribunal ruled that she had entered Assam after the cutoff date of March 25, 1971. She challenged the decision by filing a writ petition before the Gauhati High Court, which was dismissed. A review petition was also not entertained, leading her to approach the Supreme Court.
The Court observed that individuals declared foreigners or illegal immigrants are confined to detention or correctional centres. If deportation is not carried out within two years, they are eligible for release under specific conditions. The state's affidavit in this case confirmed that no proceedings had been initiated against any other family member of the appellant.
"A quarterly report to be submitted by the Superintendent of Police (Border) to the Foreigners Tribunal regarding appearance of such released declared foreigner to concerned Police Station and in case of violation of condition, the DFN will be apprehended and produced before Foreigners Tribunal," the Court stated.