More than 12 years after a tribunal in Assam declared a Muslim man to be a foreigner, the Supreme Court on Thursday restored his citizenship while ruling that a “grave miscarriage of justice” had taken place in the case [Md Rahim Ali @ Abdur Rahim vs State of Assam and Ors].
A Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah said the pleadings and record are silent regarding the basis on which the Police in 2004 had initiated proceedings against Md Rahim Ali.
“In the present case, though it is mentioned that from inquiry it was revealed that the appellant had migrated illegally to the State of Assam from Bangladesh after 25.03.1971 but nothing has come on record to indicate even an iota of evidence against him, except for the bald allegation that he had illegally migrated to India post 25.03.1971. 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.
The Court further observed that it was incumbent upon the police to provide details as to how it had received the information that Ali had come to Assam from Bangladesh.
“In other words, the authority had been, as claimed, able to trace the appellant’s place of origin. Surely then, the authority had some material to back its assertion. The record does not show such material was given either to the appellant or the Tribunal by the authority,” it added.
Ali had earlier challenged the decision of Foreigners Tribunal before the Gauhati High Court. Though the High Court had initially stayed the operation of tribunal’s order, his plea was dismissed in November 2015.
This led to the instant appeal before the Supreme Court.
This story was originally published in barandbench.com. Read the full story here.