Assam Woman Granted Citizenship After Two-Year Detention

Historic Citizenship Grant in Assam

Guwahati, March 7: A 59-year-old woman from Cachar district, Assam, who was previously labeled a foreigner and spent nearly two years in detention, has been awarded Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), as confirmed by her attorney on Friday.

Depali Das, residing in Hawaithang within the Dholai Assembly constituency, is the first individual in Assam to transition from being declared a foreigner to receiving citizenship through the CAA.

In February 2019, a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) classified Das as an illegal immigrant. Following this ruling, she was detained by police and taken to the Silchar detention center on May 10, 2019.

She remained incarcerated for nearly two years until her release on bail on May 17, 2021, following a Supreme Court order that permitted the release of certain long-term detainees.

According to her lawyer, Dharmananda Deb, Das originally hails from Dippur village in Bangladesh’s Sylhet district. She married Abhimanyu Das from Parai village in Habiganj district in 1987.

The couple migrated to India in 1988 and settled in Cachar district, where they have lived ever since.

Her citizenship was first questioned in 2013 when police initiated an investigation against her. A chargesheet filed on July 2, 2013, claimed that Das was a resident of Baniachong in Bangladesh and had entered India illegally after March 1971.

Interestingly, this chargesheet later became pivotal in her CAA application.

“The chargesheet was crucial for her citizenship application under the CAA, as it provided necessary documentary evidence of her migration from Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan,” Deb explained.

“Many applicants struggle to provide such documentation, but in Depali’s case, the police chargesheet clearly identified her as being from Bangladesh, which was accepted as valid proof by the authorities,” he added.

After her release in 2021, Das expressed her desire to apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA once the Act's rules were established in 2024. She sought legal help from Deb to initiate the application process.

The first hearing took place on February 24 last year at the designated office of the Superintendent of Post Offices in Silchar, responsible for processing CAA citizenship applications.

Following two additional hearings, her documents were submitted online to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Social activist Kamal Chakraborty noted that after a field verification by Home Ministry officials, Das was summoned for a final appearance at the Silchar office on May 25 last year.

Ultimately, on March 6, she received her official Indian citizenship certificate.

This development is also significant for her family. Das has four children—one son and three daughters—all born in India. According to Chakraborty, their mother’s citizenship certificate could serve as crucial documentation if their citizenship status is ever questioned.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, enacted by Parliament on December 11, 2019, offers a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971, and December 31, 2014.

However, the law has sparked widespread protests across the nation, particularly in Assam, where concerns have been raised regarding its potential effects on the state's demographic balance and the provisions of the Assam Accord.

Prior to Das, four Bangladeshi nationals residing in Assam had already been granted Indian citizenship under the CAA.