CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

The recently passed legislation by the Central government in reference to the ascertainment of citizenship of various people on the ground of religion and regional belongings has given an impetus to the wide spread protest all over the country. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 has made some changes in the process of granting citizenship to some minority communities from the neighboring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and has provided some immunity from the penal obligations to those communities from these countries.

What is CAA?

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which has  been assented by the President of India, on 12^th December. 2019, has made certain changes into the existing Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship.

The trans- border migration of population is happening continuously between India and its neighboring countries comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh since the independence of India. The Constitution of these countries provide for a specific State religion. As a result, many persons belonging to the communities of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsis and Christians have faced the threat of persecution on the ground of religion in those countries. As a result, many people belonging to these communities have fled to India to seek shelter here and are continuously staying in India even if their permits has been expired or not having any valid documents.

The present Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 provides the migrants of the specific communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who entered into India without any valid travel documents or if the validity of their documents has expired, exemption from the adverse penal consequences of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the foreigners Act, 1946 which regards such people as illegal migrants and make them ineligible to apply for Indian citizenship under Section 5 and 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Also under the new Act the third schedule of the existing Act of 1955 has been amended to make applicants from the specific communities from the aforesaid neighboring countries, eligible for citizenship by naturalistaion, if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of the existing eleven years.

Why it is controversial?

The new Act will be applicable on those people who on the ground of religion were forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution. This Act aims to protect such migrated people from legal proceedings on account of illegal migration. However, the new Act does not protect all religious minorities, nor does it apply to all neighbors. In Muslim dominated countries like Pakistan even some Muslim sects are also facing the threat of persecution. The Ahmadia Muslims sect and even Shias are facing discrimination there. Similarly, the Rohingyas Muslims and Hindus are continuously facing the threat of persecution in the neighboring country of Myanmar. The Hindus and Christian Tamils are facing the same threat in Srilanka. But the new Act does not provide protection to these minority communities coming from these countries. The government’s response on excluding the Muslim community from the purview of the new Act is that, the Muslims can seek refuge in Islamic nations, which seems on the face of it very illogical.

The contentions of the people against the government’s move is that, it is violative of the basic ideas enshrined under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which provided for the equality before the law and equal protection of laws to all people without any discrimination. The new Act discriminates against the Muslims by declaring India a welcome refuge to all other religious communities.

Conclusion 

The new Act makes only certain illegal migrants eligible for citizenship. These are persons belonging to six specified religious communities from the three specified countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh,  who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, and do not reside in the Sixth Schedule areas or in the states regulated by the Inner Line Permit like Arunanchal Pradesh, etc. This implies that all other illegal migrants will not be able to claim the benefit of citizenship conferred by the new Act, even though they belong to the communities given protection by the new Act, merely because of the reason that they do not belong to the specified countries and may continue to be prosecuted as illegal migrants. This is against the spirit of Article 14 of the constitution of India, because the government has failed to provide the reasoning behind excluding the other people from the purview of the new Act. The Act provides differential treatment to illegal migrants on the ground of: (a) their country of origin (b) religion (c) date of entry into India and (d) place of residence into India, which does not follow the test of reasonable classification.

Hence, the government should look into these loopholes under the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and should also cover the other religious minorities from other countries as well.