Citizenship Amendment Bill

Abstract
The Bill amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to give eligibility for Indian citizenship to illegal
migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh and Pakistan, and who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. This act was
passed by Rajya Sabha on December 11, 2019.
Introduction
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, by inserting the
following provisos in section 2, sub-section (1), after clause (b):
Provided that persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,
Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been
exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of
the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of
the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any order made there under, shall not be treated as illegal migrants
for the purposes of that Act;
A new section, 6B, was inserted, providing further that:
On and from the date of commencement of the [Act], any person referred to in the first proviso
shall be eligible to apply for naturalization and any proceeding pending against such person in
respect of illegal migration or citizenship shall stand abated on conferment of citizenship to him.
The "exempted" classes of persons were previously defined in the Foreigners (Amendment)
Order, 2015, (issued under the Foreigners Act, 1946):
3A. Exemption of certain class of foreigners. – (1) Persons belonging to minority communities
in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who
were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious
persecution and entered into India on or before the 31st December, 2014
(a) without valid documents including passport or other travel documents and who have
been exempted under rule 4 from the provisions of rule 3 of the Passport (Entry into
India) Rules, 1950 [...]; or
(b) with valid documents including passport or other travel document and the validity of
any of such documents has expired,
are hereby granted exemption from the application of provisions of the Foreigners Act,
1946, and the orders made there under in respect of their stay in India without such
documents or after the expiry of those documents, as the case may be [...].

Main Points of Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

 The Bill adds two additional provisions on citizenship to illegal migrants belonging to these
religions from the three countries.

 Consequences of acquiring citizenship:  The Bill says that on acquiring citizenship: (i) such
persons shall be deemed to be citizens of India from the date of their entry into India, and (ii) all
legal proceedings against them in respect of their illegal migration or citizenship will be closed.

 Exception:  Further, the Bill adds that the provisions on citizenship for illegal migrants will not
apply to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, or Tripura, as included in the Sixth
Schedule to the Constitution.  These tribal areas include Karbi Anglong (in Assam), Garo Hills
(in Meghalaya), Chakma District (in Mizoram), and Tripura Tribal Areas District.  It will also
not apply to the areas under the Inner Line” under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.
The Inner Line Permit regulates visit of Indians to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland.

 Citizenship by naturalisation:  The Act allows a person to apply for citizenship by

naturalisation, if the person meets certain qualifications. One of the qualifications is that the
person must have resided in India or been in central government service for the last 12 months
and at least 11 years of the preceding 14 years. BUT the Bill further reduces the period of
naturalisation for such group of persons from 11 years to 5 years.
 Grounds for cancelling OCI registration:  The Act provides that the central government may
cancel registration of OCIs on five grounds including registration through fraud, showing disaffection to
the Constitution, engaging with the enemy during war, necessity in the interest of sovereignty of India,
security of state or public interest, or if within five years of registration the OCI has been sentenced to
imprisonment for two years or more. The Bill added one more ground for cancelling registration, that is,
if the OCI has violated any law that is in force in the country. 
According to Government, States that logic behind this bill is that
“Partition between India and Pakistan on religious lines in 1947, the NDA government has
argued that millions of citizens of undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in
Pakistan and Bangladesh from 1947. "The constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh
provide for a specific state religion. As a result many persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh,
Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities have faced persecution on grounds of religion in
those countries. Some of them also have fears about such persecution in their day-to-day life
where right to practice, profess and propagate their religion has been obstructed and restricted.
Many such persons have fled to India to seek shelter and continued to stay in India even if their
travel documents have expired or they have incomplete or no documents,"

Criticism
 Among the main opposition against the Bill is that it is said to be violation of Article 14 of the
Constitution — the Right to Equality.

 The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) criticized the
Act and called it "fundamentally discriminatory in nature". It added, "Although India’s broader
naturalization laws remain in place, these amendments will have a discriminatory effect on
people’s access to nationality.