"Cannot Randomly Suspect": Supreme Court Restores Muslim Man's Citizenship After 12 years
Supreme Court on Thursday restored the citizenship of a Muslim man whom a tribunal in Assam had declared as a foreigner 12 years ago. Saying that the state “cannot randomly suspect people,” the top court observed that the Foreigners Tribunal’s ruling was a “grave miscarriage of justice.”
The Court noted that the pleadings and record are silent regarding the basis of police proceedings against the man, Md Rahim Ali, initiated in 2014.
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah stated that though it was revealed that the appellant migrated illegally to the State of Assam from Bangladesh after 25.03.1971, nothing has come on record to indicate “even an iota of evidence against him.” There was only a bald allegation that he had illegally migrated to India post 25.03.1971.
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“It is also not known as to who, if any person, had alleged that the appellant had migrated to India after 25.03.1971 from Village – Dorijahangirpur, Police Station – Torail, District – Mymansingh in Bangladesh,” the Court said.
Rahim Ali had earlier challenged the order of the Tribunal in the Gauhati High Court. However, the High Court, though initially stayed the tribunal’s order, dismissed his plea in 2015.
The petitioner then approached the Supreme Court, which gave relief to him, asking whether Section 9 (termination of citizenship) of the Citizenship Act empowers the executive to “pick a person at random, knock at his/her/their door, tell him/her/they/them ‘We suspect you of being a foreigner’.”
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The court clarified that it has not found any evidence for suspicion in the case, stating that the state cannot proceed in such manner.
“It needs no reiteration that a person charged or accused would generally not be able to prove to the negative, if he/she is not aware of the evidence/material against him/her which leads to the person being labelled suspect. Ipso facto just an allegation/accusation cannot lead to shifting of the burden to the accused, unless he/she is confronted with the allegation as also the material backing such allegation,” the court added.
The court also said that the suspected person should be given information or material available against him, adding that mere allegation, as vague as to mechanically reproduce simply the words, cannot be permitted.
The Court further pointed out that the authorities gravely faulted by construing the words that the man is alleged to be a ‘foreigner.’
