Guwahati : A 59-year-old woman from Assam’s Cachar district has been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) after spending nearly two years in a detention centre following her declaration as a foreigner.

Dipali Das, a resident of Hawaithang in the Dholai Assembly constituency of Cachar district, was earlier declared an illegal migrant by a Foreigners’ Tribunal in February 2019.

Following the tribunal’s decision, she was taken into custody on May 10, 2019, and lodged at the detention centre in Silchar. She remained there for nearly two years before being released on bail on May 17, 2021, after a directive from the Supreme Court of India, according to her lawyer Dharmananda Deb.

Deb said Dipali originally hailed from Dippur village under Dhirai police station in Sylhet district of Bangladesh. She married Abhimanyu Das of Parai village in Habiganj district in 1987. The couple entered India in 1988 and later settled in Cachar district, where they have been living since.

Her citizenship status came under scrutiny in 2013 after a police inquiry was initiated. According to Deb, a chargesheet prepared by police officer Ajmal Hussain Laskar on July 2, 2013, stated that Dipali was originally from Baniachong in Bangladesh and had entered India illegally after March 1971.

Under Assam’s legal framework, individuals who entered India after March 25, 1971, without valid documentation are treated as illegal migrants. Deb said the 2013 police chargesheet later became a crucial document in Dipali’s application for citizenship under the CAA.

“To apply under the CAA, applicants must provide proof that they migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan. Many applicants struggle to produce such evidence, but in Dipali’s case the police chargesheet clearly confirmed her origin and was accepted as valid proof,” he explained.

The Foreigners’ Tribunal that declared her an illegal migrant on February 5, 2019, had ruled that she had no legal rights in India, including the right to vote.

After being released on bail in 2021, Dipali applied for citizenship under the CAA. Although the law was passed in 2019, its implementation rules were notified only in 2024, allowing applications to be processed formally.

Social activist Kamal Chakraborty said Dipali’s first hearing took place on February 24 last year at the office of the Superintendent of Post Offices in Silchar, which processes such applications. Two more hearings followed, after which her documents were uploaded to the Ministry of Home Affairs portal.

Officials appointed by the MHA later conducted field verification at Dipali’s residence in Hawaithang on May 12. After completing the verification process, the report was submitted to the government.

Dipali attended a final session at the Superintendent of Post Offices office on May 25, and on March 6 she was formally issued her citizenship certificate.

According to Chakraborty, Dipali is believed to be the first person in Assam who had earlier been declared a foreigner and detained to receive Indian citizenship under the CAA after being released on bail.

The citizenship certificate also brings relief to her family. Her children – Aditya, Arpita, Nivedita and Joyshree – can now rely on the document to support their own citizenship claims if required.