The Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. The five constitutional judges of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Article 6A in a 4:1 decision.
The bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud comprised Justice Surya Kant, Justice MM Suresh, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. The single bench of Justice JB Pardiwala held that Section 6A was unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court said that the Assam Accord is a political solution to the problem of illegal immigration, while Article 6A is a legislative solution. The court also said that the provision was right in view of the local population of Assam.
The Supreme Court, in its majority ruling, said it was right to treat Assam differently from states bordering Bangladesh because of the high proportion of immigrants in Assam’s local population. West Bengal has 5.7 million immigrants, while Assam has 4 million immigrants settled there. Nonetheless, it is right to do so considering the smaller population of Assam, which has much less land area than Bengal. The court accepted that the deadline set as March 25, 1971 was correct.
What is Section 6A of the Citizenship Act?
In 1979, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) launched a movement demanding the deportation of illegal immigrants from Assam. After about six years of campaigning, an agreement was reached in 1985 known as the Assam Accord.
The agreement was reached between the central government, the Assam government and the agitators. Article 5 of the Assam Agreement provides that all foreigners who came to Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971 will be identified. Meanwhile, the process of identifying foreigners who came to Assam after March 25, 1971, will continue and repatriate them.
It was only after the passage of the Assam Accord that Section 6A was added by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. Under Section 6A, only persons of Indian origin who came from Bangladesh before January 1, 1966, will be considered Indian citizens. Meanwhile, those who came to Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971 were required to register and reside in Assam for at least 10 years before they could apply for Indian citizenship. However, they cannot vote during this period. However, those who entered the country after March 25, 1971 will be identified and they will be legally deported, that is, sent back.
Why question its constitutionality?
In 2012, a civil society group called “Assam Sammilita Mahasangh” protested against Article 6A, arguing that it was discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal. He questioned its constitutionality, saying it was incorrect to set different deadlines for legalizing illegal immigrants.
This provision has also been challenged under Article 6 of the Constitution. Article 6 provided that citizenship would be granted to anyone who came to India from Pakistan before July 19, 1948. But by adding Section 6A, the cut-off date for Assam was fixed as January 1, 1966. This encourages illegal migration in Assam, the petition states.
He challenged its constitutionality in the Supreme Court and sought an order to update the NRC in Assam based on the NRC of 1951 instead of the pre-March 24, 1971 poll list. Since then, more petitions have been filed against Section 6A.
When the case came up for hearing in 2014, Justice RF Nariman sent it to the Constitutional Court. A five-judge Constitution Bench was constituted in April 2017. The bench has been reorganized several times due to the retirement of judges.
Finally, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud began the hearing on December 5 last year. A decision on this is reserved for December 12.
What did the Supreme Court say?
Chief Justice Chandrachud along with Justices Surya Kant, Justice MM Suresh and Justice Manoj Mishra upheld the constitutionality of Article 6A. The court said that all persons who came to Assam from Bangladesh on or after March 25, 1971, should be identified and deported.
How effective is this decision?
Since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Article 6A, it will not affect people coming from Bangladesh and settling in Assam. Those who arrived before January 1, 1966 will still be considered Indian citizens. People from Bangladesh could apply for Indian citizenship between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971.
However, efforts to identify immigrants who arrived after March 25, 1971 will continue and they will be deported.
However, if Section 6A is declared illegal, people who came from Bangladesh before 1966 and settled in Assam will lose their Indian citizenship and be treated as foreigners.
