A foreigners’ tribunal in Assam has summoned a 60-year-old homemaker in Cooch Behar district three times since October to prove her Indian citizenship.

Momina Bibi, a resident of Bansraja village in Tufanganj 2 block of Cooch Behar, is the third person in the district to receive notices from foreigners’ tribunals in Assam to appear and prove their citizenship.

“I have received three notices since October last year. The last notice came around two months ago. I was born in Cooch Behar and was married off to a person at Agomoni in Assam's Dhubri district around 40 years ago. However, I returned to Cooch Behar within a year and have been staying here since then. I don’t know why the notice has been served on me,” said Momina, who lives with her two sons.

The homemaker said she had not initially paid heed to the notices. After Uttar Kumar Brajabasi and Nishikanta Das from the district had received similar notices, Momina and her sons told their neighbours about the summonses from the tribunal.

Abhijit De Bhowmik, the Cooch Behar district president of the Trinamool Congress, reached Momina’s residence on Thursday.

“We will extend all possible help to her and will not let the BJP-led Assam government take any steps against her,” said Bhowmik.

Momina said she had returned from Assam with her husband because she was having problems at her in-laws’ house. "We settled in Bansraja. After a few months, we divorced, and my husband left for Assam. Later, I married another person,” she said.

“I will not reply to the notice, nor will I go to Assam (to appear before the tribunal). I am not a Bangladeshi,” she added.

A senior BJP functionary said that it had been made clear that no Indian resident would face any problem by appearing before the tribunal. "Trinamool is trying to support infiltrators who have obtained fake identity proofs in India,” said the BJP leader.