PAN, EPIC not enough: HC declares Assam woman a foreigner

PAN, EPIC not enough: HC declares Assam woman a foreigner

Prabin.Kalita@timesofindia.com 13.11.2026

Guwahati: Gauhati HC has upheld a foreigners tribunal order declaring Kulchan Begum of Assam’s Darrang district a foreigner and revoke her interim bail, after she could not establish her Indian citizenship despite producing 14 documents, including PAN and voter ID cards, in a 26-year battle. 

A bench of Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund ruled in its Nov 5 order that PAN card and elector photo identity card (EPIC) issued on self-declaration without formal inquiry could not independently establish citizenship. “The PAN card and EPIC exhibited by the petitioner is not a proof of citizenship. These are documents that are issued on self-application without any formal enquiry by the IT department and EC. 

Therefore, unless, the records supplementing the PAN card and EPIC are proved, the said exhibited documents cannot be accepted as a proof of citizenship of India,” the bench said. Begum had submitted PAN and EPIC cards of a man she claimed was her father, who she said contested parliamentary and assembly elections. She had presented her own EPIC, voter lists carrying the names of a couple she claimed was her grandparents, and an acknowledgement of her NRC application. 

But she failed to establish her relationship with her purported father and grandparents. The NRC acknowledgement was also not proved. The court said an Area Sabha representative’s certificate and ration card could not establish citizenship or parentage. It also found no evidence that the alleged father and grandparents had continuously lived in Assam for 27 years between 1970 and 1997, as required under special provisions of the Citizenship Act applicable to Assam. HC said none of the documents discharged her burden under Section 9 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, to prove she was an Indian citizen and the daughter of Indian parents.