Assam Accord | S.6A Citizenship Act Was Enacted Considering Humanitarian Aspects After Bangladesh Liberation, Says Supreme Court During Hearing

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday (December 5) commenced the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955, the statutory provision giving effect to the Assam Accord.The provision, inter alia, allows foreign migrants, who came to Assam after the 1st January, 1966 but before the 25th March, 1971, to seek Indian citizenship. Certain indigenous groups of Assam have challenged this provision, contending that it legalised illegal infiltration of foreign migrants from Bangladesh. The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud along with Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra heard the arguments raised by Senior Advocate Shyam Divan for petitioners.Senior Advocate Shyam Divan commenced arguments on behalf of the petitioners today. Section 6A Interwoven In Indian History: Supreme CourtDuring the proceedings, the CJI questioned whether the specific cutoff date of 1971 in the amendment to the Citizenship Act had a significant impact. He posited a hypothetical scenario where, instead of freezing immigration at 1971, the amendment might have encouraged illegal immigration by allowing citizenship after ten years of entry. The CJI argued that the actual amendment froze the immigration at 1971, presenting it as a one-time measure. However, Divan countered this by stating that, despite the 1971 cutoff, the influx of immigrants continued due to a lack of law enforcement. He expressed concern about the impact on cultural rights, land, and economic rights of indigenous people in Assam. Divan characterized the situation as a "demographic invasion" and questioned the need for a special regime for Assam, suggesting that other border states faced similar challenges but only Assam had to accept the immigrants. He added– "The moment you have a situation where you're recognising a set of people and conferring citizenship on them automatically - what happens to next generation? You're cementing something illegal."While the CJI acknowledged the ongoing influx, he highlighted the historical context of the amendment. He mentioned that India had a vital role in the liberation of Bangladesh and the humanitarian aspect of the immigration had to be considered. He said–"One thing you have to bear in mind is that if the Parliament were to merely grant amnesty to a group of illegal immigrants that would be a different situation. But we can't deny that 6A was enacted at a point which is deeply connected to our history. India had a very vital role in the liberation of Bangladesh. We were part of the war as much as Bangladesh was. Parliament seems to have proceeded on the basis that the immigration which took place cannot be regraded purely as illegal but it was something humanitarian. It was humanitarian on the aspect of the atrocities committed on the population of the then East Pakistan which is why India intervened. This was not just looked at by Parliament as illegal immigration. It is interwoven in our history."Inputs From Committees May Not Reflect Accurate Data: CJI Senior Advocate Divan opened his arguments by taking the bench through the judgement in Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha & Ors v Union Of India & Ors, 2014 (the reference judgment). Attempting to highlight the narrative in terms of which the sequence leading to the Assam Accord was built, Divan stated that the Assam Accord came into being owing to the potential influence of international Islamic fundamentalism and the shift in Bangladesh's stance from secularism to becoming an Islamic State. In this context, Divan referred to the report framed by the former LG of Assam LK Sinha, which emphasized concerns about the unabated influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and its potential consequences for the indigenous Assamese population. He added that a similar conclusion was also reached by the Brahma committee report and the 175th Law Commission Report. Referring to the reports, he said–"Bangladesh census records indicate a reduction of 39 lakh Hindus between 1971-1981 and another 36 lakh between 1981-1989...Muslim population of Assam has shown a rise of 77.42% in 1991 from what it was in 1971. Hindu population has risen by nearly 41.89% in this period."However, the CJI raised apprehensions about the accuracy of the statistics presented. He said–"The caveat we must have is that these are inputs to the committee. I'm not sure if they are authenticate figures, whether they're accepted by the government...figures of government of India are census we can safely go by. But something which is an input of the committee - for us to proceed as a constitutional court...someone may say that these figures may not be right. Accuracy we don't know. It may convey a broad trend but specific figures I'm not sure if they can be relied on."To this, the senior counsel stated that the court could accept the figures to showcase a trend but it was "an important trend". He asserted that the figures showed that serious threats to...

Assam Accord | S.6A Citizenship Act Was Enacted Considering Humanitarian Aspects After Bangladesh Liberation, Says Supreme Court During Hearing

Padmakshi Sharma

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