Assam Accord: SC seeks details on immigrants made citizens through Section 6A of Citizenship Act

New Delhi [India], December 7 : The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central government to furnish data on the number of immigrants who were conferred Indian citizenship through Section 6A(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and what steps have been taken so far to curb illegal migration into Indian territory.
A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra called on the Central government to submit its response to various queries to further examine these and related issues.
It also questioned the Centre why did it single out Assam and exclude West Bengal from the grant of citizenship under section 6A of the Citizenship Act when the latter shares a much larger border with Bangladesh.
It asked about the steps taken by the Central government on the administrative level to deal with illegal immigration into the territory of India, particularly North-Eastern States.
The top court while observing that illegal immigration is a serious problem, asked the Centre what is the Union government doing to safeguard the border.
"Why did you single out Assam when West Bengal shares a much larger border with Bangladesh? We want to know why was West Bengal excluded from the grant of citizenship... the argument cannot be that there was agitation in Assam... Why was West Bengal left alone... What is the position in West Bengal now?" asked the bench.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which relates to illegal immigrants in Assam. 1955.
The National Register for Citizens (NRC), a list of Indian citizens containing all necessary information for their identification, was first formulated following the 1951 national census.
The Assam NRC is meant to identify illegal immigrants in the State who migrated from Bangladesh after March 25, 1971.
In 1985, the Indian government and the representatives of the Assam Movement negotiated and drafted the Assam Accord and created categories of immigrants. Section 6A is a special provision which was inserted into the 1955 Act to preserve and protect the Assamese culture, heritage, linguistic and social identity.
The NRC exercise in Assam was carried out under Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the rules framed in the Assam Accord 1985.
Section 6A of the Act was introduced to give effect to the Assam Accord. It provides the framework to recognise migrants in Assam as Indian citizens or to expel them based on the date of their migration.
The provision provides that those who have come to Assam on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, from specified territories, including Bangladesh in 1985, and since then are residents of Assam, must register themselves under section 18 for citizenship. Therefore, the provision fixes March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.
In 2013, the apex court directed the State of Assam to update the NRC.
On July 30, 2018, the final draft of the Assam NRC was released and 40.07 lakh applicants out of 3.29 crores were excluded from NRC list, creating uncertainty about their citizenship status.
Later, the apex court said that this was merely a draft NRC and no action could be taken based on it. On August 31, 2019, the final NRC list was published and 19 lakh persons were excluded.
Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, a Guwahati based civil society organisation along with others had challenged Section 6A way back in 2012 while arguing that Section 6A is discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal so far as it provides for different cut-off dates for regularising illegal migrant who entered Assam and the rest of India.
The Bangladesh Liberation War which led to the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan, witnessed a massive influx of migrants to India. Even prior to when Bangladesh gained independence from East Pakistan in 1971, migration had started to India.
On March 19, 1972, Bangladesh and India entered into a treaty for friendship, cooperation and peace.