Supreme Court Grants Assam Two Weeks to Reply in Foreigner Declaration Cases
The Supreme Court has given the Assam government two weeks to file its response to petitions challenging orders that declared five women as foreigners for allegedly entering India illegally.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta granted the time after the state's counsel requested it to file counter-affidavits. The court directed that the matter be listed again after two weeks.
On June 5, the top court had ordered status quo on the deportation of the petitioners while agreeing to hear their pleas challenging separate orders of the Gauhati High Court.
During the hearing, an advocate for one petitioner referred to a July 13 Supreme Court judgment which held that determination of citizenship must be through a fair, lawful and reasoned process. Another advocate said two women were in detention and the court had stayed deportation.
The Gauhati High Court had earlier rejected the women's pleas to quash Foreigners Tribunal orders declaring them illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
In its July 13 verdict on a batch of appeals related to Foreigners Tribunals, the Supreme Court set aside high court judgments that affirmed foreigner declarations. It asked tribunals to decide references afresh, uninfluenced by earlier observations. The court stated that while the state has a compelling interest in preventing illegal citizenship claims, the process must be fair, lawful and reasoned.
