India: Analysis Of The 2019 Amendments To The Citizenship Act (1955) And The 2024 Amendment To The Citizenship Rules 2009

The Central Government has on March 11, 2024 notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024 pending which the provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 could not be given effect to, even after receiving assent of the Parliament in December 2019. These rules lay down the procedural aspect of implementing the provisions of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. They are a handmaid to the Citizenship Amendments specially introduced in favor of according Indian citizenship status to certain persons. A brief discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 is necessary to understand the purpose of the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

Target Beneficiaries:

The Section 2 (1) (b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 defines "illegal migrants" to mean foreigners who have entered India without valid passport or other travel documents as prescribed and also those who have entered with a valid passport or other travel documents but have overstayed/ not left beyond their visa in this regard.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 aims to naturalise/ register the persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities who entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan by adding a proviso to Section 2 (1) (b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to this effect. Till the amendment introduced by way of proviso to Section 2 (1) (b), these persons qualified to be "illegal migrants". But, this proviso empowers the Central Government to exempt such persons as aforementioned under Section 3 (2) (c) of Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and Foreigners Act, 1946 from being treated as illegal migrants for the offence of entering without visa or overstaying their visa.

The citizenship can be granted through registration under Section 5 or through naturalization under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955. Since an illegal migrant cannot be considered for either naturalisation or registration, the target beneficiaries have been considered to be exempt from the rigors of Passport Act and Foreigners Act to be eligible for consideration for grant of Indian citizenship under Sections 5 and 6 within the scheme of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

A new Section 6B has also been added to the Citizenship Act, 1955 to prescribe the citizenship process to be followed in case of the target beneficiaries covered under Section 2(1) (b) Proviso as discussed above. Therefore, the grant of Citizenship is an interplay of amendments added to Citizenship Act, 1955, by way of Section 2 (1) (b) Proviso for two-fold objective of exemption from being treated as an illegal migrant and for being eligible for grant of citizenship under Sections 5 and 6 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Importantly, the aggregate residence period for consideration for citizenship has been amended to atleast 5 years from the earlier requirement of atleast 11 years of having lived in India.¹

The Citizenship thus granted shall be deemed from the date of beneficiaries' entry into India for which the burden of proof lies on the person seeking citizenship. ²

Regions kept out of zone of consideration:

The tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and the area falling under "The Inner Line" notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 are not covered under the Amendment Act. Illegal migrants residing in these area will not be considered for citizenship. ³

The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024

A new Rule 10A in support of Section 6B has been added to the Citizenship Rules, 2009. This Rule prescribes different application forms for being considered under Section 5(1) and its various sub-clauses for grant of citizenship through registration under the following specified categories:

It is re-iterated that Rule 10A introduced to Citizenship Rules, 2009 is exclusively in support of Section 6B which in turn seeks to cover beneficiaries sought to be exempted from the spectre of being labelled illegal migrants under Section 2 (1) (b) proviso.

The applications have to be made to the District level committee which would forward its applications to the Empowered Committee. ⁴

Conclusion

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 read with The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 gives an idea that the purpose of amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 is to specially bring those people within the fold of Indian Citizenship who are minority communities in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Pakistan and have faced religious persecution owing to their faith in those countries and have been residing in India on or before 31st December 2014. The purpose of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 and Rules, 2024 is to facilitate the grant of Citizenship to the displaced persons and provide them a definite identity.

The amendments introduced by way of proviso added to Section 2 (1) (b) to bring the target persons outside the mischief of "illegal migrants", Section 6B for grant of certificate of registration or naturalization to persons thus rescued from the stigma of illegal migrant and finally Rule 10A prescribing the exclusive procedure to be followed in cases of persons covered under Section 6B with appropriate references to provisions of Section 5 and 6 for grant of citizenship either through registration or naturalization represent the step wise scheme devised to grant citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955 read with the Citizenship Rules 2009 to the specified class of persons for whose benefit the said amendments have been brought into play.

Footnotes

^{1. Proviso added to Third Schedule clause (d)}

^{2. Section 6 (B)(2) of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019}

^{3. Section 6B (4) of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.}

^{4. As per Rule 11A of the Citizenship Amendment Rules 2024}

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