Kolkata: A land deed cannot serve as proof of citizenship, Calcutta High Court has told a Murshidabad man currently facing deportation after his name was deleted from Bengal’s electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).Nasir Molla is being held at Lalgola holding centre since his arrest on June 18 on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi national. Claiming that the detention was wrongful, his relatives moved the high court. During the appeal hearing, a division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi directed Nasir’s cousin, Suman Molla, to produce documents establishing Nasir’s citizenship.In response, Suman submitted land deeds registered in Nasir’s name. However, the bench on Wednesday ruled that land records do not prove a person’s citizenship. “A foreign national can buy property in India. Merely because a foreign national buys immovable property in India does not, ipso facto, make such a purchaser an Indian citizen,” the bench observed, noting that the petitioner’s counsel had failed to produce any document establishing citizenship conclusively.The court, however, granted the family a final opportunity to present conclusive proof of Nasir’s Indian citizenship.During the hearing, Bengal govt furnished a report that highlighted Nasir’s purported “confession” that he was born in Rohimpur, Bangladesh, and crossed into India illegally about 14-15 years ago.Suman, however, maintains that his cousin is a bona fide Indian citizen who was wrongfully detained. According to the family, Nasir possesses PAN and Aadhaar cards. He also had a voter ID and voted in previous elections, but his name was deleted during SIR.His counsel explained that Nasir was working in Kerala when the 2002 SIR was conducted. During the 2026 SIR, he filled up an enumeration form linking it to his cousin, but his name was excluded from the draft roll. Despite a subsequent hearing, his name remained omitted. An appeal filed before the SIR appellate tribunal in early April is still pending.
