PAN Card, Voter ID Alone Cannot Prove Citizenship: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court has upheld a Foreigners Tribunal order declaring a woman from Assam's Darrang district a foreigner. The woman had entered India after March 25, 1971, the cut-off date under immigration rules.Dismissing her petition, the court ruled that PAN cards and voter cards alone cannot establish Indian citizenship or prove family relationships.A division bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund delivered the judgment on November 5 on a petition filed by Kulchan Begum, challenging a 2018 order of the Foreigners Tribunal at Mangaldai.

The court found that the documents submitted by Begum did not adequately establish her relationship with the people she identified as her parents and grandparents.Documentary Evidence QuestionedBegum told the court that she was born on April 25, 1977. She claimed that Sabed Ali and Jaheda Khatun were her grandparents and that Abu Chand Mohammad is her father.