Branded 'Foreigner' 12 Years Ago, SC Declares Assam Resident A 'Citizen' Posthumously

The case of Rahim Ali, an Assam resident who was posthumously declared an Indian citizen by the Supreme Court, underscores major issues in Assam's citizenship verification process.

Ali, who passed away on December 28, 2021, bore the stigma of being labeled a "foreigner" and "illegal immigrant from Bangladesh" for more than a decade.

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In 2012, a Foreigners' Tribunal declared Ali a foreigner due to his absence, which was caused by a medical condition, reported the Indian Express. His appeal to the Gauhati High Court was dismissed, leading him to take his case to the Supreme Court.

In 2017, the Supreme Court referred the case back to a Foreigners' Tribunal, which again declared him a foreigner because of inconsistencies in his documents.

Ali's advocate, Kaushik Choudhury, who represented him pro bono, did not know of Ali's death.

Choudhury said, "It never came to our knowledge. The only way we could have known this was if it had been communicated by either the family or the state, but that was not the case. The people in these cases are not educated, so the information remained with them."

Ali's son, Mojibur Rahman, confirmed that after Ali's death, the family did not communicate with any lawyer.