The Gauhati High Court stepped in to grant Indian citizenship to a lady who had previously been labelled a foreigner by a tribunal court in 2017. Shefali Rani Das, 23, was deemed a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal Court in September 2017.

The girl, from Assam’s Cachar district, had failed to appear before the tribunal court five times between February and September 2017, as a result of which the judgement was made without her presence.

The situation began in 2015, when a complaint was filed against Shefali Rani Das, raising concerns about her citizenship. The Foreigners Tribunal Court served Shefali with a summons, requesting that she appear in person with the appropriate documentation to verify her Indian citizenship.

Shefali arrived in court, defying the court’s orders, and afterwards appointed a lawyer to represent her. Following that, the tribunal court assigned her dates to appear in court again.

Her defence attorney, on the other hand, failed to appear before the tribunal on multiple occasions. In fact, the lawyer had vanished so totally that he didn’t even try contacting her. As a result, Shefali was designated a foreigner on September 19, 2017.

Shefali did not give up her quest to prove her Indian nationality and petitioned the Gauhati High Court to overturn the Foreigners Tribunal Court’s ruling.

To her relief, the HC granted her a second chance to demonstrate her Indian credentials before the Silchar Tribunal in July 2021. Finally, on January 17, 2022, Dharmananda Deb, the judge of Silchar’s Foreigner Tribunal, re-considered the issue and pronounced her an Indian citizen.

According to the copy of the judgement, it was determined that Shefali Rani Das’s documents are legitimate and genuine. The copy of the judgement further said that the court believes she is an Indian citizen after thoroughly reviewing the case.

“She has clearly been able to establish the presence of her grandfather on Indian soil, relatable to the period prior to 25 March 1971 with valid linkage documents of a father as well as herself in accordance with law,” the judgement said. Shefali Rani Das is the daughter of Lakhi Das and is a resident of Mohankhal village under Sonai constituency of Cachar district. It is to be noted that the cut-off date for residents to prove their citizenship in Assam is 25th March, 1971.

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