Citizenship Under CAA Only After Scrutiny: SC

Syllabus: GS2/Polity & Governance

Context

• The Supreme Court of India has recently clarified that citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) is not automatic.
  • Applicants must meet all conditions of naturalisation, and the Union government must examine each case individually.

Key Features of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

• Purpose and Objective: The CAA amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to provide Indian citizenship to certain persecuted minorities from neighboring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh.
• Eligible Communities: The Act specifically covers six non-Muslim religious communities of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians.
  • Individuals from these communities who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, without valid travel documents or whose documents expired, are eligible for citizenship.
• Exemption from ‘Illegal Migrant’ Status: Such persons shall not be treated as illegal migrants under the Act, enabling them to apply for citizenship through naturalization.
  • The required period of residence in India for naturalization has been reduced from 11 years to 5 years for these groups.
• Applicability Exceptions: The Act does not apply to:
  • Tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura (as included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution).
  • Areas under the ‘Inner Line Permit’ system (Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur).

Related Concerns & Issues

• Legal and Constitutional Challenges: Over 230 petitions are pending before the Supreme Court challenging the CAA’s constitutionality. Petitioners argue that it violates Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination) and Basic structure doctrine of secularism.
• Violation of the Assam Accord, 1985: Assam Accord, 1985 set March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for identifying illegal immigrants (Section 6A CAA, 2019).
  • The CAA alters the demographic balance and stokes fears of cultural erosion by extending the date to 2014 for certain communities.
• Link to NRC and Electoral Rolls: CAA could be used to selectively grant citizenship, while NRC and SIR could be used to disenfranchise minorities, especially Muslims.
• Discriminatory Exclusion of Groups: Many other groups in the South Asia region such as Rohingya Muslims, Bhutanese, Hazaras, Shias and Ahmadiyyas face exclusion.
  • These groups too have suffered due to their religious identities and seek refuge in India.

Source: TH