The High Court in the Indian state of Gujarat has released a man who was detained on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi citizen last year.
Amir Shaikh, 38, who his mother claims was born in the largest city of the state Ahmedabad, was released on certain conditions on Friday, reports the Times of India.
The court order comes in response to a petition filed by his mother Rasidaben.
Amir, a resident of Chandola slums, was detained in June 2020 by Special Operations Group (SOG) officials from his workplace near the Octroi Naka on the suspicion that he is a Bangladeshi citizen.
After that his mother filed a petition claiming that her family, which had been affected in the 2002 riots, had been settled in this part of Ahmedabad under a government rehabilitation scheme, the report said.
Rasidaben claimed that the state government in 2010, upon a High Court’s order, decided to rehabilitate families who were identified as Indian nationals and who suffered during the 2002 riots.
She produced documents – Aadhaar card, election card and ration card – of her son and claimed that he was an Indian citizen and not a Bangladeshi.
According to her, Amir, the second of her children, was born and brought up in Ahemdabad like all his siblings.
Meanwhile, the SOG opposed the petition stating that Amir has not been able to provide sufficient proof of his Indian citizenship which led to the high court seeking more documents and their verification.
The petitioner mother filed affidavits in the HC and insisted, “I am as much a citizen of India as the rest of the citizenry, and so is my detained son. When my husband and I are citizens of India, questioning the origin of my child is out of the question.”
She told the court that she and her husband, Sidikbhai, are from different districts in West Bengal and they had migrated to Ahmedabad in 1965.
Her counsel, Anand Yagnik, submitted that Amir was 36 years of age when detained, the Times of India reports.
His identification cards show that he was born in 1984. According to Section 3 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, every person born in India on or after January 26, 1950 but before July 1, 1987, shall be a citizen by birth.
Since Amir was born before 1987, he is an Indian citizen by birth.
Moreover, since the parents of the detained person were Indian citizens at the time of Amir’s birth, he acquired citizenship by descent and according to the law, says the report