Gauhati High Court invokes CAA, sets aside FT Order

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: While setting aside an Order passed by a Foreigners Tribunal (FT) which declared a man named Bablu Paul alias Sujit Paul as a foreigner, the Gauhati High Court recently observed that any Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi or Christian person who came to India from Bangladesh/East Pakistan and other stipulated countries up to December, 2014 can apply for Indian citizenship as per the amendment made in Sub-Section (1) to Clause (b) of Section 2 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 by the Government of India through the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.

While hearing a Writ Petition challenging an Order passed by FT-II, Karimganj on May 8, 2017 which declared Bablu Paul as a foreigner who had not stayed in Assam before 1984 even though his grandfather came to West Bengal in 1964 and moved to Karimganj before 1966, a two-judge Bench of the High Court recently declared that persons belonging to these religious communities, who entered India before 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan, can now apply for Indian citizenship after staying in this country for seven years and need not be treated as illegal migrants.

The Bench further stated that the amended Citizenship Act provided that, "inter alia, any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under Clause (c) of Sub-Section (2) of Section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act.

"This gives a window of opportunity for any person of Indian origin and who belongs to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community, to get the advantage of not being treated as an illegal migrant to get registration as citizenship under Section 5 of the Act….," the court observed.

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