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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

15/03/24 08:30 AM IST

Citizenship Amendment Act

In News
  • Four years after the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notified the rules to implement the law recently.
Implications of CAA
  • In December 2019, the Parliament passed an amendment to The Citizenship Act, 1955 (1955 Act) introducing a new proviso to Section 2(1)(b) which defines “illegal migrants.”
  • Accordingly, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and whom the Central government has exempted under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946, were not to be treated as “illegal migrants” and would instead be eligible for citizenship under the 1955 Act.
  • In essence, the amendment relaxed the eligibility criteria for certain classes of migrants from three neighbouring Muslim-majority countries on religious lines.
  • Certain tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and areas covered under “the Inner Line” notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations of 1873 were exempted from the legislation’s ambit.
  • To access these protected areas, an Inner Line Permit (ILP) is needed from the concerned State governments.
  • The CAA has the potential to disproportionately impact Muslims residing in India by depriving them of citizenship.
  • While non-Muslims excluded from the NCR will have the opportunity to regain citizenship via the CAA, such an opportunity will not be available to Muslims.
  • The Centre has eased the process of granting Indian citizenship to members of the specified communities by excluding the requirement of a “valid passport” of their origin countries or a valid visa from India.
  • Instead, “any document” that shows one of the parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents of the applicant was from one of these countries is sufficient to prove their nationality. Additionally, a certificate issued by an elected member of a local body can be a replacement for a visa. 
Violation of Article 14
  • Article 14 guarantees all ‘persons’ (not only citizens) equality before the law and equal protection of law.
  • To pass constitutional muster, any differentiation between groups of persons must be founded on an “intelligible differentia” ( a clear criterion) and this differentiation must have a “reasonable nexus” (connection) with the objective sought to be achieved by the legislation. Referring to this, the petitioners have contended that the special treatment given to the specific “persecuted religious minorities” from the three Muslim-majority neighbouring countries does not constitute a “reasonable classification” under Article 14.
  • More so because groups like the Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka, the Rohingyas in Myanmar and minority Muslim sects like the Hazaras in Afghanistan also face persecution but have been denied similar protection under this law.
Section 6A of Citizenship Act
  • Section 6A determines who is a foreigner in Assam by establishing March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for entry — those who came to the State on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, were to be declared as “foreigners” and would have all the rights and obligations of Indian citizens except that they would not be able to vote for 10 years.
  • If March 24, 1971, is upheld as a valid cut-off date for entry into the State, then CAA can be held to be violative of the Assam Accord since it establishes a different timeline.
Source- The Hindu

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