Centre issues CAA certificate to wife of Pahalgam terror victim from Kolkata

The certificate under the Citizenship Amendment Act, a copy of which was seen by HT, was issued on Friday when the Indo-Pak conflict was on

Kolkata: Kolkata resident Soheni Adhikary, whose husband was among the 26 victims of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, has been issued an Indian citizenship certificate under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Centre, Sukanta Majumdar, Union minister of state and president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal unit, said on Saturday.

Soheni Roy was born at Fatulla, Narayanganj in Bangladesh in 1989.

The certificate, a copy of which was seen by HT, was issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday when the Indo-Pak conflict was on. It stated that Soheni Roy was born at Fatulla, Narayanganj in Bangladesh in 1989 and she entered India in 1997.

She adopted the surname of Bitan Adhikary, who was one of the three victims from Bengal, after marriage.

Passed by Parliament in 2019, CAA offers expedited citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015 to escape religious persecution. Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress insists that CAA is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to faith in a secular country.

“Soheni Roy applied for citizenship after marriage. The government has attempted to give her a new lease of life. I am thankful to Union home minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Majumdar told the media shortly before the ceasefire was announced on Saturday.

Bitan Adhikary, who lived in the US and worked for an IT company, came to India with his wife and minor son last month for a vacation in Kashmir.

Soheni Adhikary and the wives of several other Pahalgam victims said after the incident that the terrorists wanted to single out Hindus and the sindoor (vermilon) on their foreheads gave them away.

The operation the Indian Armed forces launched after the Pahalgam attack was named Operation Sindoor.

Adhikary could not be contacted till late Saturday evening.

The Centre enforced CAA on March 11, 2024, and launched an online portal where people could apply for citizenship.

West Bengal chief minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee said a day later that anybody applying for citizenship would voluntarily declare himself/herself an illegal immigrant and automatically lose citizenship rights, properties and jobs.

Addressing an administrative event on March 12, 2024, Banerjee said: “CAA is directly linked to NRC (National Register of Citizens). Its enforcement in Assam in 2019 had put 1.9 million people in detention camps. Of them, 1.3 million were Hindus. Many Hindus died by suicide. CAA is their first step to enforce NRC in Bengal. It is a trap. Don’t fall for it.”

TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar refused to comment on the Centre issuing citizenship certificate to Soheni Adhikary.