THE CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT AND ITS CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE ASSAM ACCORD AND THE NRC: A CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This research paper aims to comprehend the Citizenship Amendment Act's provisions in light of the Constitution's requirements while also looking at the Act's connections to the Assam Accord and the National Register of Citizens. The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019's primary goal is to allow citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, and Jains who escaped religious persecution in adjoining countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2019, yet it rejects Muslim refugees from those equivalent nations. Since Muslims are isolated from their partners — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, and Jains — under similar states of religious persecution and lack of equality between them is ludicrous and nonsensical, the Citizenship Amendment Act's differentiations are not in view of a sensible nexus and disregard Muslims' rights. Keeping religiously mistreated Muslims in detention facilities separate from their Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jains partners from the previously mentioned nations confines their right to life and personal liberty based on an unreasonable cycle, which disregards Article 21 when a regulation's objective is religious persecution. The article likewise tries to resolve the issue of how the Act discriminated against Muslim immigrants by granting them citizenship rights simply based on their religion, as this contradicts both the very much cherished idea of secularism and the central moral underpinnings of the Constitution. Members of the six aforementioned religious groups have until December 31, 2014, in accordance with the Citizenship Amendment Act, to apply for citizenship in India. This date coincides with the NRC's deadline of March 24, 1971, rendering the absurd callisthenics of the NRC in Assam meaningless.