The process of determining citizenship or declaring someone a foreigner should be fair, the Supreme Court said Monday in a critical judgement on the citizenship status of 27 individuals who had been labelled ‘foreigners’ by tribunals in Assam. “Citizenship and foreigner status occupy a field of high constitutional and legal significance,” the court observed. Simultaneously, the court also admitted the Indian government had an appreciable interest in preventing individuals’ illegal claims to citizenship, noting, “The State has a legitimate and compelling interest in ensuring that persons who are not legally entitled to claim Indian citizenship do not secure such status by misuse of process, by false claim or delays…” However, in the final analysis, the court said that interest cannot override judicial fairness. Watch this report by Nupur Dogra on episode 4 of the Weekly Verdict with NDTV.