Guwahati, Mar 7: A 59-year-old woman from Assam’s Cachar district, who spent two years in detention after being declared a foreigner, has now been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Dipali Das is a resident of Hawaithang area under the Dholai Assembly constituency in Cachar district.
In February 2019, she was declared an illegal migrant by a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT).
According to reports, Das was detained and sent to the Silchar detention centre on May 10 the same year.
Speaking to reporters, Dipali’s lawyer Dharmananda Deb said, “She remained there for nearly two years before being released on bail on May 17, 2021, following a Supreme Court order. Dipali was originally a resident of Dippur village under Dhirai police station in Bangladesh’s Sylhet district. She married Abhimanyu Das of Parai village under Baniachong police station in Habiganj district in 1987.”
Deb added, “Her citizenship came under scrutiny in 2013 when a police inquiry was initiated against her. Ajmal Hussain Laskar was handling the case and submitted a chargesheet on July 2, 2013, stating that Dipali was a resident of Baniachong in Bangladesh and had entered India illegally after March 1971.”
“Under Indian law, anyone entering the country illegally after the March 25, 1971 cut-off is considered an illegal migrant in Assam. The same chargesheet later proved crucial in Dipali’s application for Indian citizenship under the CAA,” Deb said.
After her release on bail in 2021, Dipali wanted to apply for citizenship under the CAA. Although the Act was passed in 2019, the rules required for its implementation were notified only in 2024.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, triggered widespread protests across the country, particularly in Assam.
The legislation allows Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Parsi migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971, and December 31, 2014, to apply for Indian citizenship.
Assam has nearly two lakh individuals identified as doubtful citizens, but only a small number have applied for citizenship under the CAA so far.
Also Read: NEHU campus reveals hidden night biodiversity: Study records 93 moth species in Shillong
Also Watch
Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.
Also, Follow us on
Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub
Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020
Instagram- www.instagram.com/ne_media_hub
Download our app from playstore – Northeast Media Hub
