19/07/2026
Supreme Court Gives Assam Government Two Weeks to Respond in Foreigner Declaration Cases 📝
The Supreme Court has granted the Assam Government two weeks to file its response to petitions challenging the declaration of five women as foreigners, who are alleged to have entered the state illegally.
A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order after the Assam Government's counsel requested additional time to submit counter-affidavits in all five cases.
Earlier, on June 5, the apex court directed that the status quo be maintained, temporarily halting the deportation of the petitioners while agreeing to hear their appeals against separate judgments of the Gauhati High Court.
During the hearing on July 16, 2026, counsel for one of the petitioners referred to the Supreme Court's July 13 judgment, which emphasized that citizenship must be determined through a process that is fair, lawful, and reasoned.
Another advocate informed the court that two of the women remain in detention despite the earlier status quo order preventing their deportation.
The Bench accepted the Assam Government's request for additional time and scheduled the matter for further proceedings after the responses are filed.
The Gauhati High Court had previously dismissed the petitioners' pleas seeking to overturn orders issued by the Foreigners Tribunals, which had declared them foreigners or illegal migrants who had allegedly entered India from Bangladesh.
In its July 13 ruling on a separate batch of appeals involving the Foreigners Tribunals and the former Illegal Migrants (Determination) Tribunals, the Supreme Court set aside several High Court judgments that had upheld declarations of certain individuals as foreigners. The Court directed the tribunals to reconsider those cases independently, without being influenced by earlier observations.
The Supreme Court also reaffirmed that while the State has a legitimate interest in preventing unlawful claims to Indian citizenship, citizenship status must always be determined through a process that is fair, lawful, and based on reasoned decision-making.
