Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955

December 7, 2023

GS Paper I Polity

Context: A five-judge constitution bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) verbally observed Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, is a “beneficial provision.”

Supreme Court Hearing on the Challenge to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act

The Constitution bench, is hearing 17 petitions to examine the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act relating to illegal immigrants in Assam.
Section 6A was inserted in the Citizenship Act as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered under the Assam Accord.

Constitution Bench:

A Supreme Court bench with a strength of a minimum of five judges is called the Constitution Bench.
It is constituted whenever a matter of law arises that requires a provision or provision of the Constitution to be interpreted, or there is a “significant legal question”.
It is not binding on the CJI to be a part of a Constitution Bench.
Article 145(3), which deals with the rules of the court, provides for the setting up of a Constitution Bench.

Timeline of Case:

In December 2014, the Supreme Court identified 13 key questions surrounding the constitutionality of the provision, including:
- Does Section 6A dilute the political rights of Assamese citizens?
- Does it violate the rights of Assamese people to preserve their cultural heritage?
- Does the influx of illegal immigrants constitute “external aggression” or “internal disturbance”?
In 2015, the case was referred to a Constitution Bench for further hearing and consideration.

What is Section 6A of the Citizenship Act?

As per Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, people who entered India between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, and have been living in Assam, will be allowed to register themselves as citizens.
Under Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, foreigners who entered Assam before January 1, 1966, and have been “ordinarily resident” in the state, would have all the rights and obligations of Indian citizens.
Those who had entered between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, would have the same rights and obligations except that they would not be able to vote for 10 years.

What are the main challenges to Section 6A?

The Citizenship Act 1955:

The Citizenship Act, 1955 regulates who may acquire Indian citizenship and on what grounds. However, illegal migrants are prohibited from acquiring Indian citizenship.
An illegal migrant is a foreigner who:
- Enters the country without valid travel documents, like a passport and visa, or
- Enters with valid documents, but stays beyond the permitted period.

Encouraging “foreign infiltration”: Petitioners argue that Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, by providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who entered Assam before 1971, actually incentivized further “foreign infiltration” into the state.
- This is because it gave hope to illegal immigrants that they could eventually obtain citizenship, even if they entered the country illegally.
Destruction of local cultural identity:
- Petitioners also claim that the influx of illegal immigrants has led to the destruction of the local Assamese cultural identity.
- This is due to factors such as demographic changes, competition for resources, and potential assimilation of indigenous communities.

Assam Accord

It was a tripartite accord signed between the Centre, the State Government of Assam, and the leaders of the Assam Movement in 1985.
It fixed a cut-off of midnight of 24th March 1971, for the detection of illegal foreigners in Assam.

Unjustified special treatment for Assam: Petitioners argue that there is no justification for singling out Assam and subjecting it to a different citizenship regime compared to other Indian states.
- They claim that the justification of a violent political agitation leading to a political settlement (Assam Accord) is not sufficient to justify such a significant departure in policy.
Arbitrary and discriminatory:
- Section 6A of the Citizenship Act has also been challenged on the grounds of being arbitrary and discriminatory.
- Critics argue that it violates the fundamental right to equality by providing preferential treatment to a specific group of illegal immigrants based on their date of entry.
Lack of clarity on the definition of “infiltration”: There is also some lack of clarity on the definition of “infiltration” used in Section 6A.
- This lack of clarity creates confusion and uncertainty and can lead to potential misuse of the provision.
Assam Accord-1985:
- It was signed by the All Assam Students Union, the Assam government, and the Government of India on August 15, 1985, to detect and deport foreigners to the state.
What is NRC in Assam?
- The NRC in Assam is basically a list of Indian citizens living in the state. The citizens’ register sets out to identify foreign nationals in the state that borders Bangladesh.
- The process to update the register began following a Supreme Court order in 2013, with the state’s nearly 33 million people having to prove that they were Indian nationals before March 24, 1971.
- The updated final NRC was released on August 31, with over 1.9 million applicants failing to make it to the list.