Report Launch | ‘Unmaking Citizens’ | Access to Justice in Citizenship Determination Project, NLSIU & Queen Mary University of London
July 26, 2025
The Access to Justice in Citizenship Determination Project, NLSIU, and Queen Mary University of London launched a report on the Foreigners Tribunals in Assam titled ‘Unmaking Citizens’ on July 26, 2025. The launch took at Teen Murti Bhavan, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi.
The report was authored by Mohsin Alam Bhat (Queen Mary University of London), and researchers Arushi Gupta, and Shardul Gopujkar, with the support of researchers and law students from NLSIU.
Read the ReportSpeakers
- Hon’ble Mr Justice Madan Lokur (Retired), former Judge, Supreme Court of India
- Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Human Rights Activist and Independent Researcher
- Mr. HRA Choudhary, Senior Advocate, Gauhati High Court
- Dr. Mohsin Alam Bhat, Assistant Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London
- Ms. Darshana Mitra, Assistant Professor of Law and Director-Clinics, NLSIU
About the Report
Based on 1,193 High Court cases, landmark Supreme Court rulings, and in-depth field interviews, the Unmaking Citizens report offers the most comprehensive study yet of Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals. It reveals a legal system in deep crisis: over 165,000 people have already been declared “foreigners,” with 85,000+ cases pending and more than 1 million NRC appeals potentially headed to these opaque tribunals. The report documents widespread arbitrariness in decision-making, including the wholesale rejection of documentary and oral evidence, and the absence of legal norms to protect individuals from wrongful targeting. These are not isolated failures—they reflect an institutionalised machinery of exclusion, with severe regional and national implications.
In the Press
The Hindu | Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunals disregard constitutional safeguards: report
The Wire | Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunals Are Instruments of Exclusion, New Report Says
The Hindu | Clerical errors in documents “fatal” for citizenship in Assam: Study
The Leaflet | Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals system lacks a secure legal foundation, is vulnerable to executive interference