Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

Subject :Polity

Objective is to grant Indian Citizenship to persecuted minorities : Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christians, Parsi and Buddhist from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before 31st December, 2014.

It exempts the members of the six communities from any criminal case under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport Act, 1920.

Issues regarding it:

• Violates basic tenets of constitution by distinguishing illegal immigrants on basis of religion
• Violative of Article 14 ( equality before law & equal protection of law)
• Naturalizes citizenship of illegal immigrants in region

Exemptions provided under the Act:

• Not apply to the areas under 6th schedule ( Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram)
• Not cover those areas that fall under Inner Line Permit under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873

Act and Article 14

First, any differentiation between groups of persons must be founded on “intelligible differentia”; and second, “that differentia must have a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved by the Act”.