Kolkata: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an Indian citizenship certificate under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to Soheni Adhikary, the wife of Bitan Adhikari, a Kolkata resident killed in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025.
The certificate was granted on Friday amid tensions between India and Pakistan following the attack, which claimed 26 lives, including three from Bengal. Sukanta Majumdar, Union Minister of State and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bengal unit president, announced the development, noting that Soheni had applied for citizenship long ago after her marriage to Bitan.
“The Indian government has accepted her application. I thank the government; Bitan was brutally killed in Pahalgam,” Majumdar stated. Soheni too thanked the Indian government for helping her get citizenship.
It was reportedly learnt that Soheni Roy was born in Narayanganj, Bangladesh in 1989 and entered India in 1997 and applied for citizenship after marrying Bitan.
Bitan Adhikari, an IT employee based in Florida, was killed in front of Soheni during the attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley.
The family, residing in Patuli, Kolkata, has been grappling with the loss. The Bengal government has provided compensation, distributed among Bitan’s elderly parents and Soheni.
The CAA, enforced on March 11, 2024, facilitates citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014. The Pahalgam attack, attributed to Pakistan-linked terrorists, prompted India’s retaliatory “Operation Sindoor,” targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The operation has been widely supported by victims’ families, who see it as justice for their loved ones.
This citizenship grant underscores the government’s commitment to supporting affected families while navigating heightened geopolitical tensions, said a state BJP leader.