CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT- LEGAL ISSUES AND STATUS OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL VOLUME:-9 ISSUE NO:- 9 ,MARCH 15, 2024 ISSN (ONLINE):- 2584-1106 Website: www.the lawway with lawyers.com Email: thelawwaywithelawyers@gmail.com CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT- LEGAL ISSUES AND STATUS OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS Authored by :- Rutuja Santosh Kokare Ismailsaheb Mulla Law College, Satara ABSTRACT This Article is all about how the Citizenship Amendment Act had an impact in India. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is an Indian law passed in December 2019. It offers citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India before December 31, 2014. However, it excludes Muslims, sparking controversy and protests across India. Critics argue it undermines India’s secular principles and discriminates against Muslims, while supporters claim it protects persecuted minorities. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a law enacted by the Indian government in December 2019. It amends the Citizenship Act of 1955 to grant Indian citizenship to certain religious minorities from three neighboring countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Specifically, the CAA offers a fast-track route to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who entered India illegally or overstayed their visas before December 31, 2014, and haven been persecuted. The key controversy surrounding the CAA revolves around its exclusion of Muslims from the list of eligible religious minorities. Critics argue that this selective approach violates the secular principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution and discriminates against Muslims, the largest religious minority in India. They see the law as part of a broader agenda by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to marginalize Muslims and transform India into a Hindu-majority nation. Opponents also fear that the CAA, when combined with other proposed measures like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), could be used to target and marginalize Muslims by questioning their citizenship status. This fear has led to widespread protests across India, with demonstrations erupting in major cities and universities since the passage of the CAA. KEYWORDS: Persecution, refugees, religious discrimination, human rights. INTRODUCTION The president of India gave its assent to the Citizenship Amendment Bill on 19th of December 2019. The implementation of this act begins on the 11th of March 2024 and is applicable within the territory of India. It’s not the first time that this Act got amended, earlier around nine times CAA was amended. This Act outlines the ways in which a person can acquire Indian citizenship, with the most common method being naturalization. To be eligible for naturalization, a person must have resided in India for one year prior to the date of application and for an aggregate of eleven years over the previous fourteen years. The Amended Act brought a drastic change, specifically for people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who are Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain, and who are non-Muslim. This law allows them to acquire citizenship in India if they have been residing in India prior to 31st December 2014 then instead of the aggregate of eleven years they can acquire citizenship in just six years. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in the year 1948, is the first document that talks about human rights. Article 14 of the UDHR says about freedom from discrimination, which means no person shall be discriminated against on the grounds of sex, race, color, language, religion, political or another opinion, national or social background association with minority group economic status, birth, or other status. Therefore, if an individual has been persecuted on religious grounds and fled to neighboring countries to seek asylum. Persecution refers to the systematic misstatement or operations of individual or groups based on their beliefs, race, religion, ethnicity, or other identical characteristic. It often involves harassment discrimination violence or deprivation of rights aimed at intimating or controlling the target individuals or groups. Asylum refers to the protection granted by a country to an individual who has fled their own country due to fear of persecution violence or danger. It is a legal status that allows these individuals known as refugees or asylum seekers to reside in the host country and to be protected from being returned to their home country where they may have faced harm. Asylum is typically granted to those who can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution. Similarly, the two terms immigrant and illegal immigrants differ in the way that an immigrant is someone who legally moves to a country not his own with the intention of residing there permanently or for an extended period. Whereas, an illegal immigrant is someone who enters, resides, or works in a country without proper authorization as per the said country’s law. They do not have legal permission to be in the country, and their presence may violate immigration regulations. LEGAL CHALLENGES FACED BY THE CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT The implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act has had a drastic impact on the citizens of India. However, Immensely disquieting, is that even though the Act faces legal challenges, the government has chosen to go ahead with the rules. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and several refugees welcomed this Amended Act. On the other hand, the Indian Union Muslim League has filed a petition in the honorary Supreme Court for the prohibition of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 and Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024. The Indian Constitution,1950 part II, specifically deals with the aspect related to citizenship in India. Part II provides such provisions about which people shall be citizens of India after the partition of 1947 and even what conditions are to be followed by an individual who is seeking citizenship in India after the independence. Several people are protesting against the Act, claiming that it violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution by discriminating based on caste, creed, and religion. In Ramesh Prasad v. State of Bihar, it is observed that the aim of both concepts of ‘equality before the law’ and ‘equal protection before the law’ is to give equal justice. The Act aims to provide citizenship to individuals who