Summary: Supreme court declares a person as an Indian citizen and not a foreigner. It sets aside Foreigner’s Tribunal order that rejected his citizenship claim.
Foreigners Act, 1946; Section 9 – Does Section 9 of the Act empower 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.’, and then rest easy basis Section 9? It is for the authorities concerned to have in their knowledge or possession, some material basis or information to suspect that a person is a foreigner and not an Indian- 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. Of course, at such stage, the evidentiary value of the material would not be required to be gone into, as the same would be done by the Tribunal in the reference. However, mere allegation, that too, being as vague as to mechanically reproduce simply the words which mirror the text of provisions in the Act cannot be permitted under law. Even for the person to discharge the burden statutorily imposed on him by virtue of Section 9 of the Act, the person has to be intimated of the information and material available against him, such that he/she can contest and defend the proceedings against him. (Para 34-35)