'Extending Citizenship Based On Religion Offends Secularism' : DYFI Moves Supreme Court To Stay Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024

The CAA, which seeks to fast-track the process for getting Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants who fled from persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and entered India before December 31, 2014, was passed by the Parliament in 2019.

As per the proviso introduced in Section 2(1)(b), migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, and Christian religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are eligible for citizenship by naturalization if they can establish their residency in India for five years instead of existing eleven years.

However, the implementation of the law was put on hold in view of the massive country-wide protests which took place against it. The protests were compounded by the Government's proposal to introduce a National Register of Citizens (NRC) along with the implementation of the CAA.

Critics of the law object to the religion-based exclusion of refugees from the benefit of CAA, arguing that linking Indian citizenship with religion undermines the country's secular character. Over a hundred writ petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the law's constitutionality. The Supreme Court, while agreeing to hear the matter, declined to stay the operation of the Act.

The Government, in its counter-affidavit, defended the Act, stating that the law was not affecting the citizenship of any Indian citizen and that mere under-inclusion of a category while granting benefit was not a ground to strike down a law.

Yesterday, the Union Government notified the rules to implement the CAA and notified the formation of committees at the State/UT level to process the applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act.