Woman from Bangladesh who married Indian man applies for citizenship with CAA

A woman from Bangladesh who married a man from Assam in 2007, has applied for Indian citizenship with the help of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
A former member of the foreigners’ tribunal in Silchar and senior lawyer Dharmananda Deb, who is assisting the woman with her application, said she came to Silchar in 2007 with her ailing mother and met the man from Badarpur town of Assam’s Karimganj district.
“They fell in love, got married and she stayed here. After the rules of CAA were published, she decided to apply for Indian citizenship with this and they came to me,” he said.
The lady is a Hindu and is the mother of a child.
Barring the woman, the family also applied for National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2015. Due to lack of documents, the woman didn’t apply for NRC, her family members said.
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According to the lawyer, the process is not easy and most of the applicants in many cases are unaware of the same.
“Most of them are unable to use the internet, so I am helping them,” he said.
According to the process, an applicant must show documents showing he/she was resident of Bangladesh and entered India before December 31, 2014. The applicant also needs to prove that he/she stayed in India at least since 2014 till the date of applying, the lawyer said.
Deb said the woman came to India with a valid passport and visa on health grounds, but she stayed back after marriage.
“She produced her academic certificates from Bangladesh while applying through CAA. She also produced her marriage certificate to show that she entered India before 2014 and stayed here,” he told HT on Tuesday.
The woman initially applied with CAA in March, but later withdrew the application due to a confusion regarding delimitation.
“Badarpur was part of Karimganj but some areas of it were added to Cachar during delimitation, which included their house. Due to this confusion, she withdrew the application but later she again applied,” Deb said.