Guwahati, May 12: After long wait of 22 years, an 83-year-old woman from Assam’s Cachar district, whose citizenship was questioned, has been declared an Indian citizenship by a foreigner’s tribunal on Wednesday after she was able to provide documents validating her citizenship.

The woman Akol Rani Namasudhra’s son Arjun Namasudhra had died by suicide in 2012 after getting a notice from foreigner’s tribunal, while her daughter Anjali Roy won a similar case in 2013.

“Akol Rani Namasudhra of Haritikor Part-I village under Katigorah police station of Cachar (Assam) has successfully proved her case by adducing cogent, reliable and admissible evidence. She has clearly been able to establish the fact of presence of herself on Indian soil as well as in the State of Assam, relatable to a period prior to 01.01.1966 in accordance with law. Hence, I am of the considered opinion Akol Rani Namasudhra is a citizen of India and she is not a foreigner,” said the order issued by foreigner’s tribunal-4 (FT-4) member Dharmedra Deb on Wednesday.

As per the records of FT-4, a case was registered against Akol Rani Namasudhra in FT-2 of Silchar in on 29/02/2000 under Illegal Migrant Determination by Tribunals (IMDT) 1983. IMDT was repealed in 2005 and a fresh case was registered against Akol Rani Namasudhra in 2011 under FT-4. However, none of the FTs issued notice against Akol Rani till February 23, 2022, as per officials of FT-4.

On February 23 this year, the Foreigner’s tribunal-4 of Silchar issued a notice against Akol Rani Namasudhra and asked her to prove her identity. FT had claimed that Akol Rani could not show adequate documents during police verification, hence her Indian citizenship was under doubt.

According to the lawyers, Akol Rani Namasudhra’s name appeared in voters’ list of 1965, 1970 and all the subsequent years when elections took place in Assam. With names in voters’ list and other important documents, Akol Rani Namasudhra was able to prove her citizenship within three months of getting the notice.