ORDER

Date : 13-11-2018 (Manojit Bhuyan, J)

Heard Mr. HRA Choudhury, learned senior counsel for the petitioner as well as Ms. P.

Baruah, learned counsel for respondent no. 1 and Mr. U. K. Nair, learned senior counsel for respondent nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Petitioner assails order/opinion dated 11.05.2016 passed by the Foreigners’ Tribunal-I, Karimganj in F.T. Case No. 930/2009, declaring the petitioner to be an illegal migrant who entered into India on or after 25.03.1971 from the specified territory.

From the pleadings it can be gauged that the petitioner Jyotsna Begum was born sometime in the year 1976/1977. She has projected one Abdul Haque, son of Yeasin Ali as her father and whose name appeared in the Voter List of 1966 (Exibit-1) and in the Voter List of 1970 (Exhibit-2). It is also claimed that her father’s name appeared in the Voter List of 1997, although the name recorded is “Ang” (as pronounced in the vernacular) Hoque. For the purpose of establishing her linkage to said Abdul Haque, the petitioner produced and exhibited – (i) Exhibit – 4, which is a school certificate dated 30.01.1990, issued under the hand of the Headmaster, Khola Basla Public M.E. School, Basla, district Karimganj; (ii) Exhibit -5, which is a Jamanat Nama, in proof of her marriage to one Altaf Hussain in the year 1996; (iii) Exhibit-8, which is an extract from the Electoral Roll of 2011 of village Khola, 5 Badarpur Assembly Constituency, showing the single voter name of the petitioner with relation to one Abdul Haque; (iv) Exhibit-9, which is an extract from the Electoral Roll of 2015 of village Khola, 5 Badarpur Assembly Constituency, showing the single voter name of the petitioner with relation to one Abdul Haque; (v) Exhibit -10, which is a certificate dated 26.02.2015 issued by the President of South Badarpur Gaon Panchayat, certifying the petitioner as the daughter of Late Abdul Haque of village Khola under Badarpur Police Station, district Karimganj; and (vi) the copy of the Elector Photo Identity Card, issued by the Election Commission of India showing Abdul Haque as a relation of the petitioner.

Out of the documents so produced and exhibited, primacy is given to the aforesaid Exhibits- 4, 5 and 10 as link documents to the projected father Abdul Haque. Apparently, in the Electoral Roll of 2011 (Exhibit – 8), Electoral Roll of 2015 (Exhibit – 9), the petitioner’s name has been recorded as having relation to Abdul Haque. Also apparently, no Electoral Roll/Voter List has been produced and exhibited wherein the names of both the petitioner and her projected father Abdul Haque are shown together as voters. In this view of the matter, burden squarely falls on the petitioner to establish the nature of her relationship with said Abdul Haque. On this aspect, we may first look at the Exhibit – 4 school certificate. A perusal thereof shows that her father has been described as ‘Late Abdul Haque’ and the said certificate was issued on 30.01.1990. The certificate therefore discloses that prior to the issuance of the certificate the petitioner’s father had expired. If we now look at the Voter List of 1997, which is marked as Exhibit -3, it is the case of the petitioner that the name of her father is also recorded therein. An anomalous circumstance thus gives rise, in that, whereas Exhibit- 4 makes a declaration to the effect on the date of issuance of the certificate dated 30.01.1990 the petitioner’s father was no longer alive, on the other hand, the Exhibit-3, which is the Voter List of 1997, shows that the petitioner’s father was alive. Admittedly, both the two documents marked as Exhibit- 3 and- 4 cannot be reconciled. Both are inherently contradictory to each other. Over and above, the author of the school certificate was never examined to testify the contents as regards the claim of the petitioner that the person described as Late Abdul Haque was her father.

The Jamanat Nama, which is marked as Exhibit -5, was brought on record to prove her marriage to one Alt