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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

08/12/23 07:31 AM IST

Supreme Court hearing on the challenge to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act

In News
  • The Supreme Court  directed the Union Government to furnish data on the number of immigrants who were conferred Indian citizenship through Section 6A(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
What is the challenge?
  • The plea before the Constitutional bench challenges one of the core elements of the Accord — which determines who is a foreigner in the state. This was also the basis of the final National Register of Citizens in Assam, published in 2019.
  • Clause 5 of the Assam Accord states that January 1, 1966 shall serve as the base cut-off date for the detection and deletion of “foreigners” but it also contains provisions for the regularisation of those who arrived in the state after that date and up till March 24, 1971.
  • Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was inserted as an amendment to accommodate this.
  • It effectively establishes March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for entry into the state, meaning that those entering the state after that would be considered “illegal immigrants”.
  • While those who came to Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971 from Bangladesh will be detected as “foreigners”, they would have the opportunity to register themselves according to rules made by the Central Government.
  • Except for being included in electoral rolls, they would be granted the same rights and obligations as Indian citizens for a period of 10 years from the date they were detected as foreigners. At the end of this ten-year period, however, they would be deemed citizens
  • The plea before the bench, while questioning the constitutional validity of Section 6A, wants 1951 to be established as the cut-off date for inclusion in the National Register of Citizens instead of 1971.
  • Their core argument is that by establishing a different cut-off date for Indian citizenship in Assam than in the rest of India — which is July 1948 — Section 6 A is “discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal” and violative of the rights of “indigenous” Assamese people.
Source- Indian Express

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