The Supreme Court upheld Section 6A of the Citizenship Act with a 4:1 majority, saying that the decision of the Rajiv Gandhi government was absolutely right…

New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. This section is a special provision inserted in the 1955 Act by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985, under which citizenship was granted to immigrants who entered Assam before January 1, 1966. Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, enacted in 1985 after the Assam Accord, barred the citizenship of Bangladeshi immigrants who entered India between 1966-1971 and denied them voting rights. Was.

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A five-judge constitutional bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud upheld this rule with a 4-1 majority. Justice JB Pardiwala dissented, while the remaining four judges – Justice Surya Kant, MM Sundaresh and Manoj Mishra gave their verdict in support of it. Reading out the majority judgment, the CJI said that the enactment of Section 6A was a political solution to a unique problem faced by Assam as the influx of illegal immigrants into the state following the creation of Bangladesh was seriously altering its culture and demography. Was put in danger.

The Supreme Court said on the Citizenship Act that the Central Government could have implemented this Act in other areas also, but it did not do so, because it was for Assam. The number of migrants coming and their impact on culture etc. is more in Assam. The impact of 40 lakh migrants in Assam is more than that of West Bengal's 57 lakh, because the land area of ​​Assam is less than that of West Bengal.

Assam Accord taken forward..

The constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was inserted into the Constitution through an amendment in 1985 to carry forward the Assam Accord. 17 petitions were filed questioning the constitutional validity of Section 6A. Section 6A was included under the Assam Accord as a special provision dealing with the citizenship of people included in the Citizenship Act of the Constitution. Section 6A of the Citizenship Act was included as a special provision to deal with matters related to citizenship of people covered under the Assam Accord.

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What was there in the law?

This provision of the law states that those who have come to Assam from the mentioned areas including Bangladesh on or after January 1, 1966 and before March 25, 1971, and are residing here, will be eligible for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 1985. You will have to register yourself under Section 18. The result is that this provision of the law fixes March 25, 1971 as the 'cut-off date' for people coming to Assam from Bangladesh.