India’s Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which denies citizenship to individuals who entered India after March 25, 1971.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by a four-member bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
The court ruled in favour of maintaining this provision, which grants citizenship benefits to those who entered the country between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971.
Most beneficiaries are Bangladeshi nationals, and individuals arriving after the cut-off date are ineligible for citizenship.
However, Justice JB Pardiwala dissented, arguing that Section 6A, enacted in 1955, is unconstitutional. Despite this dissent, the majority ruling upheld the provision with a 4:1 vote.
Section 6A was specifically created for Assam in response to violent anti-immigration movements and was part of the Assam Accord, a 1985 settlement between the Indian government and protesters to address “illegal immigration from Bangladesh.”
This ruling significantly impacts many individuals in Assam, further complicating the contentious issue of citizenship in the region.
Assam Accord
Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was introduced in 1985 to allow refugees from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) who entered India between 1966 and 1971 to register as Indian citizens.
The court order followed a petition arguing that “the influx of Bangladeshi refugees” had disrupted Assam's demographic balance and violated the political and cultural rights of the state's original residents.
Chief Justice Chandrachud described Section 6A as a "political solution" to Assam's unique problem, given the significant impact of refugee influx on the state’s culture and demography.
The Assam Accord, signed on August 15, 1985, between the central government and Assam movement representatives, aimed to address the massive refugee influx during the Bangladesh Liberation War 1971.
As a humanitarian measure, Section 6A was added to the Citizenship Act, granting Indian citizenship to migrants who arrived before March 25, 1971, but without voting rights.
